


the most [excellent, amazing, fantastic] adventure

by Signel_chan



Series: something about [love, adventure, drama] [2]
Category: Total Drama
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Reunions, Ten Years Later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-20
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 10:31:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 55,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3206000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signel_chan/pseuds/Signel_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Living the famous life has been kind to Geoff and Bridgette, but now their fame is being expected to get them to be able to do the impossible: put together a reunion of the original Total Drama crew. There's no way this is going to go according to plan, but along the way, things much better than any old plan could happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's All About That Fame

**Author's Note:**

> Whoa hey there! This was my NaNo 2k14 project, finally being posted for everyone to see and enjoy! It takes place as a companion fic to my other long-runner, [her, him them], and there will be points that directly reference that fic. But no worries if you haven't read that one, as the majority of this one takes place BEFORE it! :D

How many people out there could proudly say that they had been on some sort of television show? Probably a lot, if they counted background appearances on the news or something equally as unimportant. But how many of those positive responses would be from actual appearances, where they did something memorable? Won a game, made some money, or embarrassed someone? Not very many, for sure.

That was what made Geoff and Bridgette’s story so interesting. They had found their start—and each other—on reality TV, and somewhere along the way, their past lives became irrelevant as the fame they both had somehow accrued meant so much more. Yes, this meant that they were giving up who they had been pre-Total Drama for the sake of what the show had bestowed upon them, but it was worth it; they had not only found true love and a lasting companionship in each other, but they had found the calling their lives had been needing.

They were the best hosts of trashy talk shows that the world had ever seen. One of them was just so kind to everyone that she built their trust up, and then the other was more than fine with hurting whoever they were talking to for the sake of ratings. Audiences loved it, even if their friends didn’t, and with every show they hosted, their reputations got bigger and bigger. So what if neither of them had actually won any of the seasons of their show they had been in? That wasn’t relevant when they had more fame between them than any of those has-beens did, with few exceptions.

What had started as a consolation for them blowing a chance at a million dollars had become a life-changing experience, and there was nothing in the world that would make either of them change their minds about what they had done. Geoff, once known as a party dude who had turned into a mean-spirited person who hated his friends, had fallen back into some in-between, did miss getting to be the life of the party, but what kind of person wouldn’t love to get to be the _voice_ of the red carpet party instead? And Bridgette, the kind-hearted surfer chick, definitely had given up all forms of surfing that weren’t just for fun, but she was as sweet as she had always been and enjoyed getting to know so many people through her line of work.

Hosting gigs came and went. Awards shows, specials, even getting to announce a live hockey game, all were things that they got to do over the course of the years following their last appearance on Total Drama. It was a hectic life, going place to place for whatever job was calling for them, but they managed at each other’s side.

One thing that did weigh heavy on their hearts was their friends from on that show that had given them this grand life opportunity, but with so much on their plates, how were they supposed to keep up with the others? Addresses and phone numbers changed too often to keep tabs on them, and as time went on, those old faces faded from memory, replaced with the revolving door of famous people they met through their work.

There was one face that did pop up from time to time, however, and it was the one face that they wouldn’t have been there without: Chris McLean. He wasn’t always around, and they never knew when he would come back into their lives, but he was almost guaranteed to be the reason they were jetting across Canada for something or other. He loved that two people from his little reality show had gotten to nearly the same level of fame as he had, and whenever he got the chance to come hang out with them, he was certain to take it.

“Do you think we’ll be seeing Chris tonight on the red carpet?” It was a few hours before the yearly Gemmie awards ceremony, and much like the previous six years, it was going to be Geoff and Bridgette doing the interviews as everyone entered the auditorium. Like before every event they were at, Bridgette was doing her own hair, as she refrained from using the unnatural products that beauty crews so heavily tried to force onto her, and while she pinned her hair up she liked to make small talk with Geoff, who wouldn’t so much as bother to get ready until they were about to be on camera. “Or do you think he’s going to take this year off?”

“The dude goes every year! A Gemmies without Chris is like one without us, Bridge! It just doesn’t happen!” Geoff let out a laugh, reclining back in the director’s-style chair he was sitting in. “He’ll be the first person we see, promise.”

She smiled a bit, taking another pin and sticking it in her hair. “I don’t think you should promise something like that. I just have this feeling that maybe, just maybe, this will be the first year he isn’t there to remind everyone about where we came from.”

“So maybe he likes trying to derail us for the sake of gross stuff! We can’t hold it against the guy, can we?”

“I guess we can’t…” She turned from the mirror to look at Geoff, right as he leaned back a bit too far and sent the chair, and himself, tumbling to the floor. “Oh no! Geoff!”

“Heh, I’m okay,” he said with another laugh. “Just, uh, forgot that those chairs aren’t the best for catching some z’s.”

Bridgette came over to his side and helped him up, him laughing as she did. “You really should stop doing that, especially before something as important as the Gemmies.”

“You’re being really uppity right now. Did something happen that broke your flow or something?” Geoff did a wave motion with one of his arms to demonstrate what he was talking about, and Bridgette rolled her eyes in response. “Okay, what’s the prob?”

“Nothing’s the problem! It’s just…” she took a deep breath, before walking back over to her mirror to continue working on her hair. “I heard something earlier today on the news and I can’t help but be thinking about it, that’s all. No big deal.”

The laughter stopped, as the chair was righted and Geoff got back into it. “No big deal? You know the rule, no watching news before we have a gig. Bad vibes, yeah?”

“I wasn’t watching, just listening,” she clarified, before continuing with, “and besides, it wasn’t anything to do with either of us. It had to do with Chris.”

Geoff watched Bridgette put a few more pins in her hair before he said anything else, a bit transfixed with how her simple touch was enough to make her look very similar to a movie star. “I’unno, Bridge, it doesn’t matter if it’s watched or listened to. The news is still bad news, and now you’re giving me the vibes from it.” He shuddered, rocking the chair again. “Nothing’s going to stop the Chris-man from being here tonight, and we’ll see him on the carpet like we do every year.”

“And if we don’t?”

He shrugged. “Then we don’t, and he’ll probably hit us up for coffee or something. The man’s always here though, and you know that.”

“I guess I do know that, but—“

“No buts. Just accept that I know what I’m talking about and keep doing that hair thing.” Geoff nearly fell out of the chair again, its legs clattering against the wood floor as he finally let them get back to their proper positions. “And maybe finish that up quick? I’ve got a bad feeling about me being in this chair much longer.”

She sighed, realizing that it was going to be a losing battle if she attempted to justify her decision to listen to that news, and so she did what he asked of her and soon enough she was ready to go and he was still lounging around in his pajama pants. “So you expect me to get all dolled up as quickly as I can, and yet you’re still going to sit around looking like you just woke up?”

“Chill out babe, I know what I’m doing. Don’t rush perfection.” There was a slight problem to his claims of perfection, that being that he had no honest idea where his nice pants for awards ceremonies such as this one had gone, but he wasn’t going to just admit that straight-up to Bridgette’s face. In fact, he wasn’t going to acknowledge it as a problem until he absolutely had to—or until it was time for them to meet with the production crew and he was still wearing his pants with the little puppies on them. “Okay, maybe I sorta lost my nice pants somewhere back home,” he finally admitted, much to the displeasure of his girlfriend, “and maybe I don’t have anything but these and some shorts.”

“Then wear the shorts then?” she suggested in return, giving his pants a disgusted look. “I don’t think anyone would appreciate you wearing those on the red carpet. Can you imagine the headlines? ‘Famous host wears puppy pants to Gemmies!’ ‘Geoff looks like total fool in front of the celebs!’ It’s the wrong idea to keep wearing those.”

He grabbed at his tie that he had put on and tugged it a bit. “Problem, Bridge. Those shorts are the ones I wore yesterday.”

“Why is that a problem? I’ve seen you wear the same shirt for a week straight before!”

“Yeah, I know, and I’d be down for wearing those shorts if you hadn’t spilled that plate on me at dinner and,” he tugged his tie a bit more, “I’m not saying this is all your fault, but I think it’s all your fault.”

“My fault? How is it my fault that you tripped me?” She pantomimed wringing his neck for a second, before taking a deep breath and trying to collect herself. “You’re just going to have to wear the dirty shorts. Maybe someone on the crew will have a solution to that mess.”

In theory, it was a good suggestion, but the reality was that no person on the crew for the entire ceremony had any sort of solution for a stain on a pair of board shorts. To make matters worse, it was a near unanimous vote for Geoff to wear the pajama pants, the ones covered in little puppy dogs, on the red carpet. The lone dissenter, Bridgette, would just have to deal with the fact that her boyfriend was making a total fool of himself for the cameras, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do about it.

If things weren’t bad enough at that point, she was still worrying, albeit only on the inside, about whether or not they would be graced with the presence of their dear friend and one-time tormentor Chris. The worry that he wouldn’t show up, that his face wouldn’t appear right next to hers on screen and there wouldn’t be any clarification on what she had heard on the news that morning, was enough to make her ignore the fact that Geoff was wearing a dress shirt, a tie, and pajama pants. It was enough to make her space out in her first couple of interviews with the early-arriving stars.

But nothing would have been enough to distract her from the fact that she was going to have to talk it up with someone from her past, someone she had no idea was going to be there—or, at least, she was _supposed_ to talk to the person. The person had other plans, and those involved making Geoff the carpet personality that she talked to. “Oh my gosh, it’s Gary from the island!” the high-pitched and still so airheaded voice of Lindsay said, rushing to shake Geoff’s hand. “I didn’t know you were famous!”

“And I didn’t know you were going to be here at the Gemmies!” he replied, letting the handshake happen for a few seconds, before pulling away to look as cool as he could. “What brings you out here to the red carpet?”

She blinked at him, as if she was unable to process what she had just been asked. “You didn’t know that I’m on a show that got nominated tonight?” she asked, her eyes starting to brim with tears. When he admitted that he didn’t, not because he didn’t care but because his schedule didn’t allow for him to watch anything, she seemed to perk up a bit. “Oh, in that case, I’m here because I got nominated for being on the best fashion show ever!”’

“Which one? Designing With the Stars? I’ve heard rave reviews about that one.”

“From the looks of what you’re wearing, I think your stylist might watch that show.” It was said as a joking comment, but there was no joking when it came to the effect Lindsay’s words had on Geoff, who looked down at his pants and looked back up to his companion’s face, his expression one of disgust; it would have been a fun little incident had the cameras not followed him as he had looked, and at that moment, the entire viewing public of the pre-show for the Gemmie Awards knew that this man, who everyone lauded as a great interviewer, had no sense of style to speak of. “And, uh, I’m totally a judge on Clothing Bug. You should watch sometime. You might learn how to dress yourself.”

He stuttered for a moment, trying to come up with a comeback, but the only thing he could manage was, “H-heh, yeah, probably. I don’t always look this bad though. Just when I forget to pack my pants.”

“A good man knows to always have extra pants for the camera.” Grabbing his hand again, not for a shake but to pat it with her other hand, Lindsay turned so that she was staring the cameras dead-on and smiled. “Anyone who watches my show so knows that.”

It was a moment for everyone watching at home to laugh and enjoy, but there on the red carpet, it was a moment that filled Geoff with nothing but embarrassment. “Maybe I should watch it sometime. Thanks, Lindsay. We’ll see you later at the ceremony, yeah?”

“I guess so. I didn’t know doggy pants were allowed at the Gemmies though.” She shrugged, letting go of his hand and turning to continue her way down the carpet. “Bye, Gary!”

The fact that she had gotten his name wrong twice didn’t even sink in until long after Lindsay had breezed by the next few reporters, and when it did hit him that she hadn’t called him the correct name, there wasn’t much he could do about it except mutter to himself that his name was Geoff, not Gary. And all Bridgette, who was the next reporter in line, could do was wish that this terrible night would end without anything else bad happening to either of them.

There would be no such luck, especially when there was something that she needed to know and someone she really wanted to see, and that information just wasn’t coming. Celebrity after celebrity came down the carpet and they did their jobs diligently, being the funny and charming characters that the world had gotten to know them as, but still on the inside, Bridgette was fretting. Normally by the half-way point in the event was when Chris would make his appearance, and if he hadn’t shown up yet, then would he ever? Would she be able to get the news she needed verification about from him that night, or would she have to wait until a later date?

It was five minutes before the Gemmie Awards ceremony was to start, and the stragglers were coming down the interview alley, all in far too much of a rush to want to be talked to by the media. “I can’t believe he isn’t here,” she said, approaching Geoff. “You were so sure he’d be the first one here and now this is the end and he’s still not here!”

“Who’s still not here?” Geoff, being observant as ever, looked around for a moment. “I don’t see anyone who matters. Hey, guess how many people complimented my pants!”

“This isn’t the time for you to be proud of making yourself look like you just rolled out of bed! This is when we get worried that Chris isn’t here!” There were few times that Bridgette actually lost her cool, and this was one of them. “Something must have happened to him and, oh no, what if he’s never going to come to anything like this again? Doesn’t that worry you at least a little bit?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Nothing bad ever happens to Chris. ‘cept getting thrown in jail that one time, and having his plane blown up, and all that other stuff.”

“You really aren’t helping your case right now.” She looked to the beginning of the carpet, where the media crowd that had been present all night was starting to disperse to find better vantage points for the ceremony. “I just hope he’s okay, wherever he is.”

“It’s charming how worried you get about me sometimes.” The voice, coming from a bit behind the two, was coupled with a laugh that was half-maniacal, half-dead inside. “You know I always make it to the Gemmies, even if I don’t have a show up my sleeve for the year.”

Bridgette’s face lit up and she turned around, seeing Chris standing there. “I never know with you. You’re getting old, and…”

“Old? Me?” He almost looked offended by her saying such a thing, but the presence of the laugh made it clear he wasn’t hurt in the slightest. “Doing the reality show stuff can really drain on a guy sometimes. I was busy working on my plans for the next big thing when I lost track of time and almost missed getting here to see my two favorite campers!” In an uncharacteristic move for the guy, he opened his arms for them to approach him for a hug, and they took up the offer, the three of them hugging for a little bit there on the red carpet; if it had been any other people who had once competed on that show, he wouldn’t have made the gesture, but it was Geoff and Bridgette, and he saw them more as colleagues than he did people he once made do horrible things on television. “And you two will love what I’ve got in the works!”

“We will?” It was said simultaneously, in varying tones of surprise.

He nodded. “You sure will! I’m going to pull a few strings, get you two out of whatever contracts you’re in now, and you’re going to be working with me!”

“I’unno about that, man,” Geoff said, backing out of the hug with his hands up in front of him. “I like the contract I’m in. I get some holidays, and free cars, and it’s nice. Don’t make me lose that.”

“Geoff, come on, be serious about this! We wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for Chris and his shows, so we should take his offer, whatever it is.” Bridgette too stepped back from the hug, but not in the same way Geoff had, and she tilted her head slightly to one side as she looked at Chris, waiting for him to explain what he was talking about. “Even if it means giving up everything we already do, I’m sure what we will be doing is worth it.”

“That’s the spirit!” Chris grinned, etching many wrinkles into his face that had appeared over the years. “Man, I love talking to someone with reason.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not every day that someone says I’ve got reason.”

“Well, you do. You know it’s the dumbest thing ever to turn me down.” His chest puffing out a bit in pride, or perhaps an act of showing them who had control, he went to continue speaking, but a cameraperson stopped him, asking if they could maybe move off the red carpet for this touching reunion. “Sorry, do you know who I am? I make golden shows, and I’m sorta talking about my next big thing, thank you very much!” The person didn’t take the hint well, asking them to move again, but when Chris threatened the person with having to become an intern on his next competition show, they listened and backed off. “Wow. Rude. I could use someone with such gall on a show sometime, but whatever.”

“So, what’s your plan?” It wasn’t so much that Bridgette was impatient, because she was normally all for just talking and getting to the important stuff when it came around, but there was an awards show they could have been watching, and standing on an almost empty red carpet just wasn’t as fun as watching the Gemmies was. “Is it for us to host alongside you on a new season of one of your shows?”

The sound of absolute horror that Geoff made at that suggestion, coupled with the concerned look that Chris gave her, told her that what she had just said was probably the worst idea ever. “Uh, let’s be realistic. I love your work, guys, but working next to me is different. You won’t get any screen time and no one will remember your names after we’re done. I just don’t think your careers are ready for such disappointment.” Said with a laugh, Chris made it sound a lot like he was being sarcastic, but the truth was that he meant it. He was the center of attention whenever he ran a show and he knew it. “But I can do you one better. You two, your own show, my rules. Sound good?”

“Good? That sounds like it’s just going to end bad for us, and I think I’d rather lose all my popularity because you’re on camera than have to host for you.” Geoff grabbed Bridgette’s arm and tried to pull her away, but she stopped him, much to his shock. “Bridge? Are you listening to this? He’s crazy!”

“Says the guy who had to wear puppy pajama pants on the red carpet!” She got his hand off of her and turned her full attention back to Chris, who was staring at her, waiting for her response to his proposition. “I don’t know, though…our own show? We’ve kinda got one of those already, on the radio…”

“Yeah, I know, listen to it all the time. Love when you decide to mention me or something I’ve done. Really humbles a man.”

“And you want us to give that up, for whatever you want us to do?” She raised an eyebrow, becoming a bit suspicious about what was happening. “That doesn’t make sense.”

He paused for a second before he replied, and then shrugged. “Things don’t always make sense, Bridgette. Maybe you’ll be able to keep doing that and do this thing at the same time, I don’t know. I don’t usually figure those things out until later in the planning process.”

“Later in the planning process? You mean, you’re asking us to drop everything and agree to be part of your new thing without all the plans already made? Maybe Geoff is right, maybe this will just end bad for us.” She was about to turn and walk off, but Chris began to laugh his typical laugh and it caught her by surprise. “What’s so funny about me doubting you?” she asked, hoping his reply would convince her that not leaving right then was a good idea.

“You haven’t even heard my idea yet and you’re about to run. Come on, you guys have to realize that I made you famous, and that this is the least you can do to pay me back for that. Just listen to my idea, and trust me, it’s a good idea.” He was really digging to get them to stay, in a pleading manner that the Chris they had known forever before would never so much have considered.

But this was not the Chris who once hosted Total Drama Island, and they had no reason to doubt that he wouldn’t at least suggest something interesting. “Okay, we’ll listen, but if you say anything weird…”

“No worries, Geoff, I’m not going to say anything weird. Or illegal. Actually, it’s the legality thing that’s got me coming to you two, believe it or not.” He looked around at the sparse crowd for a few seconds, before setting his gaze on the two before him. “Now, to continue this conversation, shall we go somewhere a bit more private? I don’t want the media catching wind of this idea quite yet. Don’t need them telling the world until it’s time.”

Although he literally had just told a guy minutes before that they weren’t going to leave, leaving was exactly what they did then, even if the destination was a makeup trailer for the camera crews. “What’s such a big deal that we’ve got to come in here to talk about it?” There was slight confusion in Bridgette’s voice, blending in with the rising fear that whatever was going to be suggested was what she had heard on the news earlier on in the day. “You’re not,” she swallowed down hard, “d-dying, are you?”

“What? No!” Chris shook his hands in front of him as he made sure to strike that suggestion down. “Where’d you hear that, the trash news? I swear, every year I don’t have a new show, they think it’s because I’ve got a terminal disease or something. It’s called, sometimes I can’t find exploitable people, okay?”

“Bridge, is that why you wanted to see him so badly?” Geoff looked to his girlfriend, who nodded solemnly. “Why didn’t you just say that? I could have told you that he’s not dying. Nothing could kill this man, I swear.”

“Pretty sure I’ve evaded death enough times that I’m just never going to die, thanks.” The hand-shaking stopped and soon the conversation got to where it was supposed to be: “Now, you two know me because of a show. A great show! A show that really put me on the map as ‘best host of a reality show’ for years and years! A show that ended up costing me millions of dollars in lawsuits and almost as many restraining orders as there have been contestants!”

Bridgette had a question on that third point, and she asked it while stopping Chris, yet again, from explaining his whole idea. “They took out restraining orders? Sure, you almost killed a bunch of us, but forgive and forget! You gave so many of us the loves of our lives, so why couldn’t they just think that way?”

“Yeah, turns out that mental scars and physical trauma are unforgivable, even when they got to hook up during it.” He shook his head sadly, before continuing with what he had been saying before. “Anyway, that’s not important. What is important, though, is that I am legally not allowed to talk to like half of the people you guys befriended out on that island, and next summer, it’s going to be ten years since that whole thing happened.” He waited for a reaction, but he got nothing but two blank stares. “Oh, come on, you two know that’s important, don’t you?”

Geoff’s mind was still trying to process what was being said when he spoke next. “Means it’s been about ten years since I met my sweetheart here, so I think I’d say that’s important!”

“Touching thought, Geoff, but not what I was going for. Do you know what people do when it’s been ten years since something happened?” Again, Chris expected a reaction, but got stares. “They have a reunion, that’s what. And you two are going to host the first Total Drama reunion show, on my behalf!”

“We are?” Bridgette smiled for a second, before her face fell hard. “No, we’re not. I’m pretty sure some of those people are still the sneaky, manipulative—“

“Did I say it’s been almost ten years since World Tour? No, I said almost ten years since the island. Don’t get ahead of yourself.” The sigh of relief he got from clarifying that made him hopeful that his proposition would be accepted. “Even though I’m not going to complain if you wanted to bring in some of those other people. The fans love some of them. Might drive up the ratings for this.”

“So what you’re saying is this,” Geoff started, finally having caught what Chris was throwing down. “You’re saying we get to talk to all these people that we once competed with for money, and get to act all chummy and fun to them, just because you can’t?”

“Something like that, yes. Except I don’t want you to be fake with them. You still hate the people? Hate them! Fights! Drama! _Ratings_!” The last word was said in a bit of a sing-song voice, and Chris was raising his arms much like he did in his intros for the show. “And the best part? You two get to be in charge! Just like those Aftermath shows you used to do. Fun times, am I right?” Before either of them could get a word in, he answered his own question. “Of course I’m right. I’m always right. I’m Chris McLean. Right is almost my middle name.”

It was a tempting offer, sure, but there were so many variables in play that needed to be clarified on before they made a final decision, before they signed a contract that sold their lives away to this project. And one of those first things that needed to be set in stone was simple and easy, that being that they do this on their own time, at their own pace, with their own results. It wasn’t going to be a super easy project to complete, they knew, but it was something that Chris really seemed to want them to do, and who were they to turn him down when he was offering something like this to them? They would have been stupid to reject such a great offer, and as airheaded as they tended to be, they really weren’t stupid. There were just going to have to be some ground rules set before they were committed.

That winter, after several meetings where those rules were made and contracts were drafted, they started on what was going to be the biggest event of their lives. They had until the beginning of the following summer, roughly six months, to get twenty people to agree to come together for a reunion show for the best experience in most of their lives. And the chances of it going off without a hitch were so astronomically small, it was more likely that Chris really wasn’t able to die than it was that it would ever happen.

There wasn’t any harm in giving it a shot.


	2. Like a Mass Game of Hide and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff and Bridgette begin to toy with the idea of this whole reunion thing that Chris so badly wants, and realize that it's going to be a lot harder to meet his demands. Especially since they don't want to deal with everyone, and everyone won't want to deal with them!

All the planning and discussing had gotten deep into the possibility of no one at all wanting to be part of the reunion show, a reality Chris had known about since the very moment he had thought up the idea. But he didn’t want to make it sound like that was the most likely outcome, and so every time he expressed that it _might_ not happen, he made sure to spend the next several minutes talking about how it was going to have to happen, because he was going to put big money into this project and that meant there was little room for error. There was going to be a Total Drama reunion show, and that was that.

Having six months to get all those people to agree to it was going to be a challenge, one that needed some sort of game plan to get started. “We’ve got to decide who is worth the effort right now, and who we should save for later,” Bridgette said, pulling out some blank paper and a couple of pens to use for this planning session. “Or maybe we could just do some research and see who lives where and all that.”

“How are we going to know that kind of stuff? Do you think there’s even a way we could find these people?”

She looked from her sheet of paper, which she had begun titling with the goal of the exercise, to see Geoff attempting to balance one of the pens on his nose. When it fell and he noticed her watching, she laughed. “I’m sure there’s some way. I bet they get found all the time by people.”

“Yeah, by people who care. Face it, Bridge, we don’t care. We only care because Chris wants us to care. Do you know how hard it is to care for me right now?” He proved his point by trying to balance the pen once more, failing just as badly the second time. “See, still not caring!”

“You don’t have to care about the people, I guess, but you do care about the money, don’t you?” Bringing up the payment they received for whatever they did was always the way she managed to snap Geoff into caring about anything, and this time was no exception, as he put the pen down and grabbed his own piece of paper, seemingly ready to begin the brainstorming they were about to do. “There we go. Just think about the money.”

He did, actually picking up the pen to use it correctly, before snorting as he attempted to hide a few chuckles. “You know who never thought about the money?” he asked, hoping Bridgette would humor him with a response. When she did, he grinned. “Zeke, the poor guy. What happened to him? He went all weird and animal, didn’t he?”

“Yes, but didn’t Chris say that they mostly fixed him up? He still isn’t completely sane but he’s better. Probably shouldn’t try to contact him until we’re close to done with getting everyone else on board, though.” She wrote Ezekiel’s name on her sheet and, next to it, in the boldest letters she could fit on the line, put to wait until later for him, due to insanity. “See, you gave us a good start. Can you think of anyone else?”

“Uh, yeah, duh! These were my friends, yo!” He put his pen to his chin in thought, before using it to scribble something down. “Lindsay! She was at the Gemmies! Pretty woman, let me tell you.”

The look on Bridgette’s face had been excited, until he mentioned beauty, then her smile fell and she sighed. “Yes, perfect, Lindsay. Works on a fashion reality show. Probably won’t want to talk to us unless we find a way to fake an interview with her.”

“Or give her a real one?” Lifting his paper to show Bridgette what he had put down on it, he revealed that he had drawn a crude sketch of the logo for their radio show, Gidgette Weekly. “I mean, we get exec decisions for what’s on our show, yeah?”

“Yeah! Geoff, you’re a genius!” He was two-for-two on suggestions, plus he had come up with a great cover for whenever the person they needed was still into the fame thing. After writing Lindsay down, as well as the way to get her to become part of the reunion, she looked expectantly at her boyfriend, hoping he would have something else wise to throw into the discussion. “Anyone else?”

He was too busy staring at his drawing to pay attention to what she was asking. “I still don’t know if I’m totally on board with doing this. Some of those people are total drags, and besides, focusing on this means less time on what matters most. I’m gonna miss just getting to chill at the studio with you.”

“I know, I’m going to miss doing that too, but we’ll be having adventures trying to rope all these old faces into our plan. It’s going to be nice, I’m sure.” For what she said next, she went into a stern and serious mode. “Unless you want to hit on other ladies, that is.”

“Would I ever do that, Bridge-y bear? You’re my ride or die, babe, and you know that.” He sighed. “That’s what’s so bad about not having the time to just chill anymore. How am I gonna remind you of how much I love you?”

“All sorts of ways, I’m sure. Now let’s get back to coming up with these plans, so that maybe later we could go somewhere so you can show me that love.” By that, naturally, she meant like dinner or a movie, but Geoff’s mind took it elsewhere, and it energized him to be involved more than mentioning the money they’d make off of this ever could.

The problem was, aside from the once-feral one and the one he had seen at the last real event they had worked, Geoff really didn’t remember anyone that they had been on the show with. It wasn’t that he hadn’t cared, because some of those people had been really great friends of his, but rather it was that he just hadn’t had the time to keep in touch with them, and their names had been lost to the sands of time in his head. “Uh, problem. I know I said they were my friends, but…”

“You don’t remember their names. I know. Sometimes I can’t remember them either.” It was good to hear that Bridgette was in the same boat as him, and he was about to comment on the relief he felt when she said that when she continued to speak. “But most of the time, I can remember some, especially the names of people we actually still talk to!”

“We still talk to people from the show?” There was genuine surprise in his voice when he asked that, because as far as he knew, they really didn’t.

“Yes! Remember my birthday last year? Courtney was there!” Bridgette wrote a third name down on her list: Courtney, her probably closest remaining friend from the show, for some reason or another. “She took time away from her law school stuff to actually celebrate with us. So much better than anyone else I thought was my friend.”

Geoff started tapping his pen to his chin again. “D’ya think she’ll be up for this?”

“Of course she will be. If Chris isn’t there but we are, she’ll be there faster than anything.” She wrote that down, before thinking about what it would mean for them. “But if she’s there, then there are others we should be more careful with.”

“Like who?” Geoff quickly answered his own question, although with a response Bridgette did not want at all. “Oh, right, like that dumb guy who you fell for that one time.”

“Chris said we don’t have to invite him to this, so we’re not going to.” She shuddered, not even bothering to write the name of the person they were discussing down. “Besides, he wasn’t quite who I was talking about. Remember? Green hair, bad boy attitude, blew up a mansion for the sake of being bad?”

“Oh yeah, Duncan! Forgot about him. Wonder how prison’s treating him.” There wasn’t much more to Geoff’s reaction than that, which made Bridgette wonder if he wasn’t thrilled with the topic. “Not like it matters, I guess. How are we gonna break a guy out of jail for a reunion show?”

She shrugged. “No one ever said he was still in jail, so maybe we could get him to come anyway. Let me put him down in the ‘wait until later’ category for now until we find out.” That was exactly what she did, and now the list had four of twenty names written down. “This might be a lot more work than we thought it would be back when we were talking about this with Chris.”

“Maybe that’s why Chris wanted us to do it. We know that man won’t do hard work to save his life, unless they accidentally labeled relaxing as work.” Going back to his doodling, Geoff snorted again. “What a guy. Not totally down with what he keeps throwing at us, but hey, he brought us fame, we can’t complain too much.”

He had made a good point, but when Bridgette tried to point it out, she was shushed and told that her talking was interrupting the creative process. A few minutes later, she was shown a new drawing on the same piece of paper as before, and she figured it was a guessing game as to what it was supposed to be. “Did you really just draw Duncan?” she asked.

“Yeah, but check out who I drew next to him.” He pushed the paper closer to her face so she could get a closer look at what, at first glance, had seemed to be just some random girl. “It’s that old goth babe. Gwen. Man, she and I used to be friends, but then stuff happened and I think she really hates me. Bummer.”

“Are you telling me that you spent the past five minutes drawing them, so you could tell me to put her on the list?” He nodded and she sighed, pushing his paper back to him so she could write Gwen’s name down. “Did drawing her help you remember her name or something?”

“Or something, probs. You can’t interrupt the process though, Bridge. It’s not cool.” He went back to his drawings and she looked at her sad excuse for a list of their one-time companions, which was so far from complete it wasn’t even funny. “Do you think she’d want to do this? I don’t think so. She’s so got it out for me.”

“I don’t know, Geoff. She might want to see me again. We used to be friends, so maybe that’ll get her to come.” Just as she was about to write down to put effort into getting Gwen to come, something dawned on Bridgette. “No, wait, she’s not going to want to come at all, and it’s got nothing to do with you, Geoff.”

He looked up for just a second, gave her a confused look, and then was focused once more on doodles. “Are you going to explain that?”

“Hold on.” She was writing several other names down now, without the help of her admittedly mostly-useless partner. “Gwen hated like everyone on the island. In order to get her to want to come, we’ll have to convince either someone else to come…or someone else not to. And based on the last thing I heard about one of those two, I think I want it to be the second one.”

“Not so fast, Bridgette,” a new voice said, and both her and Geoff turned to look at the open doorway, where Chris stood holding a coffee and a sandwich. “I know where you’re going with that, and I’m going to have to ask you to remember that everyone must be there. Drama is a good thing!”

She turned her attention back to her paper. “Yeah, I know, but it would be so much easier if I wasn’t going to be in charge of a catfight.”

“Too bad, so sad. You’re inviting everyone.” He took a bite of the sandwich, smiled, and walked on down the hall, leaving them alone once more. She sighed, because something had told her that he was going to do that, and even though he didn’t know who she was thinking of not inviting, which really would have made a difference in his decision there, she thought, he was going to force them to come up with some way to make it happen.

“I’ve got an idea, Bridge.” Showing his drawings again, this time on their own sheet so that they had more room, Geoff proudly pointed to a mess of arrows and faces. “Just hear me out, ‘kay? It’s gonna work for this.”

“Any idea you’ve got is probably going to work better than mine, so hit me with it, I guess.”

He inhaled deeply, before beginning his explanation. “So we’re stuck on how to get old pal Gwen to come, right? How about we say it’s some sort of thing she’d dig, and just not tell her that everyone else is gonna be there! It would be like a surprise party, except not a party and a lot more work!” From there, he moved his pointer finger to a different part of the diagram. “And this one here, uh, Leshawna? That’s her name, I think. But her, she’s gotta be in on the whole thing. Her and Gwen used to be tight.”

Bridgette gave his diagram a few glances and compared it with her paper. “Did you happen to read what I wrote while you were drawing that? Because I figured that one out myself too.”

“Nah, just used the old noggin for this.” Once again his finger moved, to a scribbled out portion. “Here’s who we don’t invite. Mostly because I don’t want her bringing that guy of hers around with no permission, but also because—“

“You have to invite _everyone_ and make sure they’re all there.” Back in the doorway again, Chris was down to half of a sandwich now. “I don’t care if you don’t get the World Tour people in on this, but you’re not skipping anyone who was on the island with you.”

“Dude, how do you know we’re talking about that?” Geoff crumpled his paper up and threw it in Chris’ direction, but it missed completely and hit the floor in front of him instead. “It’s like you’ve got powers or something.”

After taking a sip of his coffee, Chris laughed. “Yeah, I kinda do. Called being used to listening to conversations for the exploitable bits.” Before he left again, he made sure to put the suggestion that kept cropping up into its permanent grave: “Everyone comes. There is no excuse I’m going to take that has anything but that. So, yeah, stop coming up with ideas that mean not inviting someone.” When he was gone, but still listening from wherever it was he was spying on them, it became very clear that this was going to be even harder than it already was. What they had already planned was not going to cut it.

* * *

It took about a week of off-and-on planning to finally get a rough estimate of what was going to have to happen to get the twenty people to wherever the reunion show was going to be held (another problem they were going to have to face eventually). It wasn’t a perfect plan by any means, but it was one that would satisfy Chris and his desire for everyone who had been on the island to be there for the reunion, even if some of the methods of how they were going to convince some people were a bit odd.

Some were easy to think of ways to convince. Katie and Sadie? Just tell them there would be friends and cute guys and probably other things they had liked. Owen? Remind him that these were all his buddies, and that he had won the season. It would be blasphemous for him to not be there. But others were much harder, like Duncan being in jail still—a fact they had to research—and the only way they’d be able to get him involved was if they waited an additional year for his release date. For those difficult ones, they came up with the best way they could think of and hoped for the best.

Chris took one look at the plans and scoffed. “You really think this is going to work?” he asked, getting two half-hearted nods in return. “Man, you two are bad with this logical planning thing. You’re thinking like you’re all sixteen still! People change, everyone’s grown up, and things are not like they were back then, trust me.”

“How else did you want us to go about this?” Bridgette snapped, before realizing who, exactly, she had just snapped at. “I m-mean, how would you have done it, since we’re so not smart enough to do it?”

“I don’t know, I figured you would know what all these people would be like nowadays! Can’t exactly catch up with everyone when they’ve all got restraining orders against me!” He read through their plan again, making sure to comment on the things that he did like, to make everything not look like so much of a failure. “I think some of these are manageable. Pretty sure some of these people would do anything for the fame it brings. But, really? You think you’ll be able to convince Noah to come through the power of _persuasion_?”

“It was the best idea we had!” At the end of her rope, Bridgette covered her face with her hands and sighed. “We messed up, didn’t we?”

Contrary to what she was expecting, Chris said they hadn’t, and she moved her hands to just stare at him. “You just ripped on our ideas though, dude,” Geoff said, as he tried to make sense of what was happening. “How didn’t we biff this big time if you didn’t like what we came up with?”

“Because you tried, that’s why. Listen, Geoff, Bridgette, I know it’s not going to happen. It’s just a dream, to get everyone together again so you can remember the good days of my youth and first foray into torturing teens, and it’s a dream that won’t come true. But you two, you’ve really shown me that something could come from this dream.” He tapped the paper a few times, assumedly on parts he liked. “And if you two could just keep trying and make something happen, that would be about the coolest thing ever, got it?”

“You were setting us up for failure the entire time? That’s not cool. Bridge was getting super into all this.” Geoff put a comforting hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder, hoping that it being there would make her feel a little less angry at the situation. “I knew we shouldn’t have done this. You’re a bad man, Chris. Real bad.”

“Tell me something I haven’t heard before. I just wanted to see if you guys were up for the challenge and, well,” he flicked the paper again, “you were. I’ll pay you each a nice amount for each of these people you actually manage to get to the reunion next summer. Least I can do for the work you’ve put in.”

Bridgette shook her head in disbelief. “No way, we’re not going to fall for that. Not until we talk through what you mean and how much money and all the details. We’re not doing even more work for nothing.”

“Then we can talk about that stuff eventually, sure! Right now, though, I want to know your thought processes. How do you expect to rent animals for the show? How about getting people from other countries? Oh, and of course, how do you expect to get some of these people with others present? Not inviting someone isn’t an option still. Can’t change that rule.” Chris grinned, his smile forced and cheesy. “It would take all the fun out of this.”

“No, that would make this more fun, I think. I don’t want there to be a bunch of fighting because we have people that don’t like each other there. I want it to be old friends catching back up with each other.” Bridgette looked down, thinking about who she really wanted to see at this show. “I know you like drama, but this would be more fun for everyone if it wasn’t dramatic at all.”

“By everyone you mean the people who decide to do anything but watch, right? Because no drama equals no viewers, which equals low ratings and no payment. If you want your money, you’ll make this as dramatic as you can.”

Geoff grabbed the paper back from Chris with his free hand and looked at it for a second. “Let me guess, you want us to do the hard stuff, since they’re the ones big on dramatics, yeah?”

“It’s not a Total Drama party if there isn’t at least one backstabbing traitor and one person who cries, so, yeah!” Taking the list into his possession once more, Chris dropped his smile but kept his same tone. “I want them all if you can. Do a jailbreak. Get the RCMP involved. Whatever you can for ratings, because they’re most important here.”

“Ratings are not more important than people!” As soon as she said it, it hit Bridgette that Chris never once had chosen to care about people more than the ratings his shows got. He had been responsible for many injuries and near-death experiences, after all. “Okay, maybe for you they are, but for us? No way!”

“Maybe we should think like Chris here, babe,” Geoff said, trying to diffuse the situation before it got too intense and things were said or done that would be regretted. “Maybe focusing on ratings is the way to go. I mean, where would we be without high ratings on our show? Nowhere, that’s where.”

There was something Bridgette really wanted to say in return, something about how they achieved their ratings through being themselves and being entertaining in ways that weren’t physical pain or torture for others. But she saw Chris standing there, smile back on his face and a suggestive arch to his eyebrows, and she realized that arguing about that was a lost cause against this man who simply lived to torture people. And she couldn’t make the argument that if he wanted it to happen so badly he could do it, because she knew the circumstances. She knew he wasn’t allowed to interact with most of the people he wanted there, and he was going to have to act through others to make his reunion dream come true. “I guess you’re right,” she conceded, “but just because I realize that we’re going to have to make this dramatic doesn’t mean I’m going to let there be fighting or any of that.”

“Then you’re going to make me suffer low ratings, which will make me lose all chance of ever getting another show on air. Do you want that to happen?” The voice he used was harsher than the one before, and it was clear that he was beginning to tire of this argument. Her reaction was to shake her head and say that no, she didn’t want that to happen. “Good. Then you’re going to let there be fights if there need to be.”

“Hopefully there don’t need to be any.”

“Did I ask you for that comment? No? Didn’t think so.” He tried to perk back up to his normal self, but failed and all that was left was that fake smile. “You two better not ruin this reunion thing, got it? There’s so much more I want to do on television before I’m done, and if this goes over terribly, then that’s it. I’m done. The world will never get to see my beautiful face grace the screen again. And that, that would be a tragedy.” Chris, always the master of dramatics, gave a forced sniffle. “So please, just do what I’m asking you to do, and do it right.”

Was there really anything either of them could say against that? They had agreed to help him out with this whole thing, and now that they knew how difficult it was going to be, there was zero chance in them getting to back out of things. In fact, the only choice they had was to power forward and keep planning, keep trying to get things done so that when it was the ten year anniversary of their stint on the island, there would be a grand celebration of all the people who had been on the island in the first place.

But a week or so later, a new problem was encountered that should have been expected from the very beginning, but had never crossed either of their minds until the moment they went to call one of the numbers they had found for one of the contestants and were met with a disconnect message. “Geoff, do we have any other way to contact these people if their numbers don’t work?” Bridgette asked, her voice hesitant to even approach that topic. “Or if we don’t have anything, does that mean we’re done with them?”

“We should have addresses, so guess that means we’re sending letters or something,” he replied, just minutes before he encountered the same problem she just had. “How many of these people have changed their numbers from these ones here?”

“A lot of them, I’m sure. I mean, we’ve changed _our_ numbers three times since the show, so I guess we should have seen this coming.” She gave a deep sigh, before dialing another number and trying someone else—someone who also had a different number than the one they had. In fact, by the time they had tried all the numbers they had, there were a grand total of five that had answered and been the correct person, plus two which had gone to a voicemail box that belonged to the person they were looking for. Seven out of twenty people was not a good start at all.

So they had to break out the fancy envelopes and mail out written information letters to everyone instead, but even then, they got several of their messages back. “Can’t believe that we can’t get these people to come.” As he was looking through the letters that had been returned to them, Geoff couldn’t help but comment on some of the ones he saw. “It’s a shame that we can’t talk to some of them, like this one.” He lifted a letter out of the stack. “Noah. Don’t even really remember the dude, except he was sarcastic and funny and Owen totally loved on him like a brother. Wish we could see that interaction again.”

“Isn’t the one for DJ in there too?” Bridgette, looking over Geoff’s shoulder at the stack, questioned. “Because I thought I saw it in there, and if it is…what a shame.”

“Yeah, him too. He’s probably off with nature though, and I can’t blame the guy for not wanting contact if he’s out living with birdies or whatever.” He shook his head sadly, before commenting on two more letters. “And then those fun girls, Sadie and Katie, they didn’t get theirs either. Wonder if something happened to them. Maybe the mall ate them.”

“Geoff, I’m pretty sure malls don’t eat people. I bet they just moved in together and grew up, or something like that.” She laughed at what he had said, but then, after he put the four letters he had commented on down and still held two more, she abruptly stopped her laughing. “You’re kidding. There’s no way we got _both_ of these letters back.”

He waved them both around a bit. “Looks like we did. Bit of a bummer on the one, but what can we do? Gwen really just doesn’t want to be found by us.”

“Yeah, but if Gwen’s not there, then that’s already a blow to the ratings Chris loves so much, so we can’t afford to not have Heather there either. I mean, she was mean and everything, but people loved to watch her.” There was a pause there, where Bridgette collected her thoughts on the matter, before she continued on with why this was such a problem. “So if neither of them are there, what are people going to watch for? Us?”

“Probably, yeah, because we’re awesome and we have our own fan base. I’m only sad that Gwen won’t be there, but don’t really care about the other one. She wasn’t very nice, and really? Her not being there means there’s no chance of that guy being there, and we don’t want that guy there.” Geoff was right about that, and Bridgette figured that maybe it would just be for the best if that was how things were. “But yeah, sucks that Gwen’s not coming.”

“I’m sure we can find a way to get her to come, somehow. Maybe someone we’ll be visiting will have her address or something, and maybe they’ll help us out.” It was wishful thinking, but if there was one person that they hadn’t talked to since the show that they did want to see again, it was definitely Gwen. “As for the others who we can’t reach, well, maybe something miraculous will happen. I mean it was probably a miracle that we all made it onto the show in the first place, right?”

He nodded in agreement. “Right on, babe. I totally agree.”

“So maybe the same kind of miracles will happen when it comes to getting everyone involved in this. And if not, well, I guess we’ll have to do this whole thing without them. That’s okay, though, because I bet they’re happier wherever they are now.” She hugged Geoff tightly once she said that. “Hopefully they’re all as happy as we are. Even if they’re involved with terrible people or they’ve been eaten by a mall or something.”

“Wait a second, I thought you said malls don’t eat people…”

“They don’t, Geoff. Don’t worry.”

This whole experience was about to get a lot more interesting, especially now that they knew who they could and couldn’t find for this grand reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is where more characters begin to be introduced--and I will update all the character stuff at the top once there's anything new to be seen. I hope y'all are enjoying this so far! :D


	3. Radio Killed the Reunion Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of a problem when this whole "reunion" thing gets brought up to the general public, that problem being that now it means it's crunch time for Geoff and Bridgette to actually try making this thing happen. First things first, though: a response to a letter they sent out gives them the opportunity to catch up with one (or more) old friends of theirs.

Being on their own radio show meant that there were a lot of people in Canada who knew the story of Total Drama Island and how that it was how the hosts of Gidgette Weekly had met and fallen in love. But, on their last broadcast before they began their physical search for the ex-contestants that they had been on the island with, they made the crucial mistake of mentioning that it was that show’s fault that they were going to have a bi-weekly schedule for their show rather than the weekly one it had been on since the beginning. With the leak of that information, callers began to flood their lines, wanting to know what a show that had happened nearly ten years before was doing to their radio program.

“Well, you see, there’s this great man named Chris McLean who ran that show, and we are pretty good friends with him, and he wants us, his most famous contestant pals, to go on the most excellent adventure he could come up with and make a reunion happen.” Geoff’s explanation was probably the worst thing he could have done in the situation he was in, because this was the first mention of a reunion that had ever been made to the public, and the calls continued to come rushing in. “Whoa, okay, seems like a lot of you want to know who we’re going to bring in for this reunion, I guess!”

“I don’t think having this discussion here is a good idea,” Bridgette said, trying to steer the conversation to where it had been before; up until the slip-up, they were talking about some musician and their newest solo album, another music entry apart from the group that had made them a popular name. “Let’s get back to the music, please.”

“No way, Bridge! Can’t you hear the people calling? They want to know, and who am I to stop them from knowing?” He clasped his hands together before getting to answering questions that the voice in his ear was telling him. “Sounds like someone wants to know if the big guy Owen is going to be there. Well, my brother, we don’t know who is really going to be there or not, but from what we know, he’s def interested in coming! So fingers crossed that we get to see him again real soon!”

She knew that this was just going to get worse, but Bridgette had to at least try to keep things from getting too on the topic of the reunion. “Why don’t we let our listeners find out who’s going to be there and who isn’t by watching it when it happens next summer?” she suggested, hoping that her words would have some impact on Geoff.

They didn’t. “I’m sorry, but there’s just too many people out there who want to know who’s going to show! Someone else wants to know about Izzy, it sounds like, and let me tell you, she’s up for showing too! We can’t say she will be there, because, uh, no one really knows with her, but I’d guess she will be!” He stopped to listen to the voice in his ear a bit more, before saying anything else. “Zeke? We’ll try to get him there, but he’s still not sane and I don’t think we want to be spit on. ‘cept I heard they fixed his mutant thing, I think.”

“Yes, Geoff, I told you they fixed him being a mutant.”

“Knew it! Hope that answered your question, friend!” He laughed. “The Drama Brothers? Weren’t we talking about them when the reunion got brought up? Anyway, dunno if they’ll all make it, but I think we’ll see one or two of them. Hopefully H-bomb will be there, since he’s only one of the hottest things in beatboxing right now and being graced with that kind of talent just doesn’t happen every day, y’know.”

“Finally, we’re back on topic. We’re supposed to be discussing his latest album and how its sales are doing better than expected. Remember, Geoff?” Bridgette didn’t mean to sound like she was being annoyed with his talk about things that weren’t set in stone, but she definitely came across as annoyed because he looked at her with hurt in his eyes. “Oh, fine, okay, keep talking about the reunion. It can’t hurt too badly.”

It ended up being one of the highest-rated installments of their show since it had begun, all because of Geoff wanting to just keep talking about what they were planning. He told everyone who asked the truth, and didn’t shy away from the fact that some people everyone wanted to hear about were playing hard to get. He also wasn’t afraid to answer some weird questions about the whole thing, but when someone started asking about people who weren’t from the original cast, he had to put a stop to it. “Yo, I love the interest, but you’re asking about people who aren’t from the crew!” he explained, trying to be as polite as possible about it. “We’re only trying to get the original twenty-two back together, no one else, so if you want to know about any of those non-original guys, you’ll have to ask someone who knows!”

People understood the answer, and once the show was over and done he was fully expecting to have a million missed calls and messages from people who would be interested in putting a reunion show with anyone else together, but there was nothing. Not a single person who had been involved in Total Drama seemed to have been listening to Gidgette Weekly, or if they had been, they didn’t want a reunion to happen.

“I can’t believe you did that. I mean, talking that much about our plans? Do you want someone to change their mind with how much publicity this is going to get?” To say Bridgette was displeased would be putting it lightly, but she tended to show her anger in ways that weren’t outright. “You’re promising them everyone when they’re going to get maybe a few people who aren’t even the big names!”

“Chill out, I’m sure it’s all going to work out fine. I mean, someone’s got to have heard all that and be like, ‘wow, TDI was the best experience of my life, now I want to go to that reunion and get chummy with my old pals.’ Or maybe not. I don’t know.” Geoff looked at his girlfriend and how angry she seemed, and he gently kissed her on the forehead, breaking away after a few seconds. “Calm down, babe. It’s all okay.”

“All okay? What if Chris heard that and decides we’re not the right choice for this job? What if we got peoples’ hopes up for something that’s not going to ever happen?” She started breathing rapidly, and another forehead kiss calmed her back down. “I just don’t want this to go wrong. If it goes right it’ll be the best thing in our lives, but if it goes wrong…”

“Then it will still be the best thing in our lives! We’re going on this journey together babe, and I can’t think of anything I love more than spending time with you.” Taking a moment to just stare at Bridgette and see her smile as she heard what he said, Geoff made sure to follow that with something just as sappy and romantic, in his own way. “Besides, how bad could it be? There’s not going to be anyone there to distract us from us, yeah?”

“Yeah, that’s true. But it could still be bad. Someone could want to start a fight, or we could find out someone’s died, or something else like that, and that would be the worst! I don’t know how you can think everything’s going to be okay with this.”

He shrugged. “I think I just think everything’s going to be okay, really. No reason to think any other way.”

“That’s the most inspirational thing I’ve heard you say. Thanks. I needed that.” She gave him a big grin before kissing him herself, on the lips rather than the forehead. When they broke apart, she gave a soft laugh. “Maybe I’m just worrying too much about things going wrong. Maybe I need to think like you for a change.”

“Don’t think too much like me, since you’re the one who thinks of how things are gonna get done and I’m better at the making it fun part.” He smiled and she laughed more. “Like this! I made this more fun, didn’t I?”

Her nod in agreement made him want to pick her up and twirl her around in a hug, but they were surrounded with expensive equipment that they would never want to break, and so maybe the exuberant display of affection wasn’t best suited for that place. However, a longer kiss would do just fine.

* * *

The “sending letters to everyone” plan had failed in some ways, because there were six people they hadn’t been able to reach through it, but there was at least one way in which it had been the best idea ever: it gave the others a place to contact the two. And a few weeks after they had sent everything out, there was a surprise waiting for Geoff and Bridgette in their mailbox from someone they had contacted.

It was a letter for _them_ about things involving one of the people they had been most excited to know about, and were convinced would be there. “Hey, check this out,” Geoff said after opening the letter and seeing how legitimate it was. “We got our first confirmed person for the whole thing! And it’s a good one too!”

“No way.” Bridgette looked at the letter herself, verifying that yes, indeed, what Geoff had said was true. “I mean, we knew he was going to want to come to the reunion, but who knew he was going to tell us that like this, and this soon!”

“Know what this means?” She glanced to him from the letter, giving him a curious look. “I think it means we’re going to take a little trip out to see our old pal Owen and catch up with him before the thing. Gotta make sure this really is him and all, to not get our hopes up.”

That was how they ended up making the first of what was soon to be many trips for the sake of planning the reunion, from their little headquarters out on the west coast all the way to the other side of Canada, just for the sake of a bit of catching up. Yes, it was to catch up with someone who was making their efforts worth it, but it was still a trip that they were paying for themselves, for no reason other than to thank someone in person for wanting to be part of something that many people probably wouldn’t want to be part of at all. Having grown accustomed to traveling over the years of their show and their hosting gigs, it wasn’t too much of a hassle to fly, but where was the fun in flying when there wasn’t a time limit on the trip? There wasn’t fun at all, and they would much rather have preferred to make a road trip to get to see Owen.

However, a road trip was even less logical than making the trip in the first place, and so they just went and flew to the airport closest to the address they had on file for the big guy. “I hope he’s not going to be too weirded out that we’ll be visiting him at home,” Bridgette said once they were in control of their rental car and were driving off the airport’s property, “because I know if I were him, I’d be weirded out by this.”

“The dude knows we’re coming, so he’s probably as stoked about it as I am!” Geoff gave the steering wheel a death grip and very nearly turned the car into a ditch, but once he had righted everything and they were back on their way, he laughed. “I mean, look at what just happened. I’m so stoked we almost died.”

“Let’s just hope that you’re right, but that he’s not as excited so that we don’t almost die when we’re there.” She said it in fun, but the truth was that there was a possibility that something bad could befall them when they arrived at the home of one of their old friends, especially one who was a big fan of hugging and physical displays of affection. It was for the best that, when they did finally made it safely to the house on an empty road on the outskirts of a small town, they didn’t try to make contact right away. They needed to make sure that getting out of the car wouldn’t end up being their downfall.

The problem with that was that Geoff didn’t quite think that idea through, and he opened the door to the car and got out the second he could. “Wow, didn’t know the guy could live this far from a town and survive,” he commented, before he was caught off-guard by a screaming that sounded very much like a dying animal, and he turned to look back to the road, where the sound had come from. Swinging from one of the trees that lined the driveway came a blur of some sort, whipping from the tree to the house, screaming the whole time. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound friendly.” Bridgette was getting herself out of the car to see what was happening, and once she had shut her door the screaming stopped, but the thing that had been making the noise kept swinging back and forth, disappearing into the trees occasionally.

“Whoa, you guys really came out _here_?” Another distraction, this time one that they had been expecting, turned their attention from the unknown to the porch of the house, where Owen had come out to see what was going on. “I thought you were joking about that! This is so awesome!”  
“’Course we came, we so wanted to see our old friend!” Geoff heard rustling in the tree and looked back to it for a second, before giving his full attention back to Owen. “I think you’ve got an animal problem, though. Something’s trying to get us and it’s starting to give me the creeps.” The two made their way over to the porch, where they were greeted with a big hug that they had completely expected, as well as the friendly reassurance that, for everything that may or may not have changed over time, one thing that had definitely stayed the same was everything about Owen.

“Did you say something about an animal problem?” he asked, once he had let go of his friends and let them inside. “Sometimes squirrels get in the attic here and I have to get someone else to get them out. They’re stubborn. Don’t like listening to me.”

Bridgette shook her head. “It wasn’t a squirrel. Whatever it was, it looked reddish and was definitely not friendly to us.”

“Oh, that’s no animal then! It was totally Izzy!” Owen’s face lit up as he said that, and the other two had their faces fall. They hadn’t expected to get to see her at this point; while the address that they had been given was valid for her family, it hadn’t been for her, and so while they had spoken to her on the phone, thanks to her family giving them her number for the sake of this project, they hadn’t known if they were ever going to see her in person. “She’s got this cool rope thing she uses out there sometimes. She’s like a monkey.”

“Does she live here?” Geoff sounded excited as he asked that, and when he got a positive response, his face went back to its normal happy position. “That’s gotta be cool, having her around all the time!”

“You’d be surprised about how not cool at all it is. She’s a real handful. When my parents left me this place when they moved, they told me not to have her come over ever, but the squirrels. I needed her to calm them down.” Chuckling a bit to himself, Owen looked at his friends and noticed how concerned Bridgette seemed to be. “What’s wrong? Did I say something that sounded bad? I try not to do that.”

Once again, she was shaking her head. “It’s not that you said anything bad, it’s that you didn’t say anything about Izzy living here with you. Based on what her family said in their message to us, they don’t know where she is. Does that bother you?”

“Not really. All that matters is that the RCMP doesn’t find her here, which is why, heh, we don’t really tell anyone she’s here. One time they thought they found her, and she went and hid in the attic with all the squirrels. Somehow, the squirrels got them off her tail, and ever since then, she just kinda lives here and does whatever.” He shrugged, before laughing. “Man I love her so much. Except, not like a touchy kind of love. I love everyone in a touchy way.”

Geoff and Bridgette exchanged a confused glance between themselves. “What do you mean then, man?” Geoff asked. “Are you going to come out and say something about what you and her do behind closed doors this soon after greeting us?”

“Behind closed doors? No way! I don’t close the door when I’m in the same room as her, because my parents always said that that’s how bad things happen! Besides, it’s best to not close any door on Izzy, or she’ll break it. You should see how taped up the door to the old cheese cellar is. Pretty taped up.” He kept laughing, which brought relief to the others who were present. For it having been so long since they had last seen this guy, it was a bit of a shock to learn that he really was the same old dude he had been when they last were around him, still innocent and loud and fun.

“Oh, hey, cool, it’s not anyone who would want to hurt me in here. I was scared for a minute that you had invited some bad people over, Big O!” Coming inside the front door and slamming it shut behind her, Izzy made her grand entrance, and instantly the room felt like it was a little less safe. She looked the same as she had when they all had first met, except maybe a bit more unkempt—she had twigs in her hair and she looked like she had spent several nights awake in the wilderness. “Last thing I need is to have to make a break for the woods again. Remember last time I did that? Turns out it was just the pizza guy at the door!”’

“That was a good time. Minus the part where I had to take the pizza out in the woods to find you and that bear tried to take it from me.” Much like he had before, Owen was chuckling and having himself a good time. “I told them the squirrel story already. That was a good time too, once the guys were gone and you could come out of the attic.”

“Aw man, you told that story already? That’s probably my favorite story to tell ever. I hope I get to tell someone that at the reunion when it happens.” She flopped down on the couch right in between Geoff and Bridgette, making herself look right at home between them. “Which is why you two are here, yeah? You’re being the official people for this thing, and why else would you come all the way out here to the middle of nowhere?”

“To see a good friend, that’s why!” Shooting finger guns in Owen’s direction, Geoff couldn’t help but raise his voice to exclaim that. “This party dude has gone too long without being in my life, and we needed to change that!”

“And, yes, to do some official reunion planning stuff,” Bridgette added, taking the amount of fun in Geoff’s words down a bit. “Sorry, but we thought it would be easier to do this stuff in person than it would be any other way. It’s definitely easier to get input from Chris when he’s around, so why would it be different with everyone else?”

“I think I know why!” For the first part of her statement, Izzy sounded genuinely excited, but then her voice dropped and she sounded not at all pleased. “Because Chris is insane. And that’s coming from me, and I know insane. I’ve had to talk to squirrels. Being able to say that there are squirrels that come into the attic and they actually listen to me is the biggest qualifier for being insane, I totally think.”

Once again, a look was shared between the two visitors, but this time, there was the obstacle of looking around Izzy to get it done. “I don’t really think I get where you were going with that, Izzy.” Putting her hand on Izzy’s leg, Bridgette gave the redhead a smile that was almost completely faked. “But that’s okay, because I don’t think I really want to know where you were going.”

“Well, you’re no fun, now are you?” Jumping up, knocking the hand out of the way in the process, Izzy leaped over the table in the way and landed in Owen’s lap. Once she got herself sitting up and comfortable, she looked over to the other two. “I just want you to know that you’re brave, doing all this for Chris. If I was you guys, and he was still him, do you know what I would have told him? I would have said, ‘No, do it yourself, you loon!’ and you know what? He so would have done it himself.”

“Didn’t you read the letter they sent me? He can’t do it himself.” Surprising to Geoff and Bridgette both, Owen was taking the responsibility of fixing Izzy’s logical errors. “He wants this to happen but he can’t make it happen because of other things. Like, uh, law things. Am I right, guys?”

Or, at least, he had tried to fix those errors. “Yeah, you’re right, bro. Law things. Apparently some people thought what he put them through was worthy of getting the law involved. I didn’t really have that much of a problem back in the day with the man, so I don’t get it.” Geoff raised his arms and used them to make an over-the-top confused motion. “The dude’s pretty cool once you get to know him on a personal level.”

“Why would you even want to know Chris on a personal level? He’s like, the worst person ever or something, maybe.” Izzy tilted her head, before blowing a raspberry with her tongue.

“Because, the dude may not be nice, but he does care about everyone from the show. And since we’re some of the only famous ones from then, he really likes us. Bridge-y is convinced that he comes to some shows only because we’re there.” Geoff looked at his girlfriend, who shot him a dirty look. “What? You’ve said that before.”

“There are some things I say that are meant to be kept between us, you doof.” She punched him in the arm playfully. “He does come to some things to see us, but normally he’s going to be there regardless of us being there. It is nice when he says hi to us, though. Makes me feel like we mean something to him.”

“Are you saying that, let’s say, I don’t mean anything to him?” There was a bit of concern in Owen’s voice as he asked that. “I thought he liked me on the show. He seemed like he did.”

There was a moment there where Bridgette contemplated just getting up and leaving, because there was no reason for her to continue on this conversation, but something, namely Geoff sitting there right next to her, that stopped her from doing it. “He did, don’t worry. If he didn’t at least like most of us from back then, it wouldn’t make sense for him to want there to be a reunion.”

“Oh. Oh! That makes sense, heh. Didn’t think of it that way.” Just like that, Owen didn’t sound concerned at all. “Do you think he’ll show up to it somehow?”

“No way. He’s not going to risk being thrown in jail just to see everyone. Maybe he’ll meet up with the ones he’s allowed to see, but not everyone.” Bridgette saw how his face lit up like a Christmas tree when she said that, and it reminded her that this guy, even with everything that had happened, really did like everyone he knew. “I’m sure he’s sad that he won’t get to see you, probably.”

Another raspberry was blown to let everyone know that Izzy had something she wanted to say. “Everyone gets sad when they can’t see the big guy! I know it makes me sad when I’m not here, but hey, sometimes a girl’s gotta go hang out with other friends. And sometimes she’s gotta be in nature. And sometimes, both at once!”

“Nature!” The word sparked a thought process in Geoff’s mind that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. “Do either of you know what happened to ol’ DJ?”

“Can’t say that I know. Last time I saw him, he was upset about me wanting to eat one of his pets. I didn’t know that someone would keep a pig as a pet, and I really wanted some bacon, okay?” Owen laughed, shaking Izzy a bit as he did to try to get her to join him.

She didn’t join, and to escape being shaken she jumped off his lap. “I know where he is! He’s just living life, doing the animal thing, and he wants nothing to do with either of us. Apparently it’s not okay to kidnap his pet to make some bacon. I didn’t know that he wouldn’t appreciate it. I even offered him a piece.” She cackled, almost doubling over with the force it caused. “Aw man, that was a good time.”

“Do you know where he’s living?” It was the next question Geoff came up with, ignoring the fact that both of them had just admitted to wanting to kill someone’s pet for the sake of something they could have easily purchased at the store. Izzy stopped her laughter and looked to Owen, and after they locked eyes they both shook their heads. “Oh. Worth a shot, I guess. Thanks anyway, dudes.”

“I may have said I know where he is, but that so didn’t mean I know where he’s living. Last we saw him, he had a trailer and a lot of animals and I’m sure he’s moved, like, a million times since then!” Izzy threw her hands up into the air, before propelling herself forward and into a handstand on the table before her. “Maybe he’s nearby. Maybe he’s super far away. Maybe he went back to Jamaica. I just don’t know.”

Bridgette eyed what Izzy was doing warily. “Uh, are you going to fall over on us?”

“No way. I do this all the time. Only person who ever gets hurt is Big O, and that’s because he thinks it’s funny to try and tickle me when I’m doing this! I mean, it totally _is_ funny, but it’s not funny when I kick him in the face!” Just as abruptly as she had gotten up on her hands on the table, she flipped off of it and landed cleanly on her feet, earning applause from Owen as she did. “Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all week!”

“You might be, but we won’t. Maybe we should get to talking about things, like maybe what’s been up in your lives since we last saw each other?” There she was, trying to get things back on track, but unlike when Geoff got off on tangents, Bridgette didn’t know the easiest way to get these two onto an acceptable topic. That may have been why there never really was the conversation she would have liked to have seen happen that day, because there was no controlling Izzy and Owen when it came to what they talked about.

In fact, by the end of the day, the only thing that anyone had learned about anything was that, while they may not have known where DJ was, thanks to some of the odd friendships he had made over time, Owen did know where a few other people were living. While it was mostly useless information—after all, they had most addresses thanks to the letter-sending event—there was a little bit of a glimmer of hope in all of it, because Owen had gone to visit his good buddy Noah on several occasions, and Noah just happened to be someone they were sure they weren’t going to get to see.

That night, when they made it to their hotel in the nearby town where they were staying for the few days they were out at Owen’s, Geoff made sure to research the information they had been given, looking up the address they had been told. He ultimately needed help with it, because he didn’t spell the street name right the first time and, due to having to ask Bridgette how to spell it properly, kind of ruined the surprise he was going to give her about what they should do next. Once they had the information of where, in relation to where they were at that moment, Noah was living, they knew what had to be done.

This trip wasn’t just going to be for seeing their biggest pal.

It was going to be for seeing one of the more elusive cast members as well.


	4. The Silence of the Nerds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to a certain someone's tip, the gang goes on a Noah hunt. Naturally they'll find him, but Noah wants nothing to do with anyone but Owen, and it's everyone but Owen who wants to deal with him!

“I’m sorry, I really am, but I just don’t think that this is a good idea! Do you know how mad he’ll be when he sees someone that isn’t me or Izzy there?” It had been almost non-stop protesting since the plan had been shared with everyone the next day, and Owen was by far the bigger protester of the two. “He doesn’t really want anything to do with anyone. Kinda why he’s not shared where he lives with the world.”

“We’re not going to make him go to the reunion if he doesn’t want to, don’t worry! Dude’s got a right to do what he wants. Least we can do is stop by and say hello if we’re in the area, though.” Behind the wheel of the rental car once more, Geoff looked into the back seat where Owen and Izzy were squished together. “Sorry about the tight quarters back there, by the way. Bridge’s idea. She thought eco-friendly was the way we needed to roll.”

“It’s okay, but it would be better if we weren’t in here because we’re going somewhere we won’t be wanted…”

Izzy, on the other hand, thought differently. “Oh, come on, Noah is going to love seeing all of us! He’s like, in desperate need of some excitement in his life, or something like that. Poor guy doesn’t do much except complain and stay home, anyway. I’ve invited him out into the woods with me before, and you know what he did? He told me he hoped I’d just stay there! Isn’t that funny?” She definitely was under the impression that what she said was funny, because she sat there, barely enough room for her to fit comfortably in the seat, laughing until she cried.

“Uh, does that happen often?” Bridgette asked, wanting to know that they hadn’t just broken Izzy in the back seat of a rental car. “Does she make herself cry all the time?”

“Yeah, you get used to it happening. I’m surprised she hadn’t done it already since you guys got here.” Owen tried to get his arms around Izzy to calm her down, but due to the lack of space he was unable to without nearly socking her in the face, and once that almost happened he gave up on the endeavor. “She’ll stop when she’s done thinking she’s funny.” Naturally, she didn’t stop crying and laughing until they were pulling up to the front gates of a little townhouse community, one that required a passcode to get in. Thanks to Owen being present, they had the code needed to open the gates and get that much closer to seeing Noah, but there was one snag in the program: even after the drive over there, he wasn’t convinced that it was a good idea. “I really don’t know if I should tell you the code to get in…” he said, looking around anywhere that wasn’t at the two looking expectantly at him. “Not because I don’t want to see my buddy, but because I don’t want him to get mad at me.”

“No worries, dude!” Geoff said. “We totally get what you’re saying. Except that this isn’t really the time for you being like this, and we need to get in there.”

“Geoff! We’re trying to convince him to just do us a favor and give us the code, not guilt him into doing it!” Changing from her scolding tone to a more gentle one, Bridgette made her move to get Owen to spill the beans. “Owen, think of it this way. We came all the way out here to see you, and when you said you knew where Noah was, you should have known we’d want to see him too. He’s nice, you’re nice, we’re all nice, and we all want to be friends. You want us all to be friends, right?”

“Uh, yeah, I do! But being friends doesn’t mean inviting someone into someone else’s house. Last time I did that, Noah wanted to kick me out, but that’s probably because I invited Izzy in and she broke a vase.” The glare he got from saying that was not Bridgette’s way of letting him know she was done with his cagey behavior, but rather a concerned look about why he would think letting Izzy anywhere near anything breakable would be a good idea. However, what he said next had nothing to do with the vase, and everything to do with finally being put in the position of withholding information. “Okay, okay, you got me. The code is zero-zero-one-zero, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

Geoff rolled down his window, leaned out a bit, and punched the code into the little box sitting there for that very purpose. The gates that sat closed before them slowly opened, creaking as they did, and once they were fully open Geoff slammed on the gas pedal, sending them into the neighborhood as fast as they could go from a complete stop. Then came the next challenge, which was finding which townhouse was the one they wanted to be at. “You are going to show us which one it is, right?” he asked Owen, hoping that he’d get told that yes, indeed, he would do just that.

“I don’t know, the code was one thing, but this? It’s like me asking you guys to take me out to dinner and pay or something. It’s not cool and I’m not really sure I’m for it.” There was a definite sense of regret in his voice, and for a split second, the two in the front seat actually felt a bit bad about what they were doing.

Then that second ended and Geoff had to make a comment that he knew would win Owen over, based on what he had just said. “Yeah, but dude, we have money. We could treat you to all the dinners you wanted! We’ll do that if you just show us where your bro Noah lives, I promise. No lying here.”

“Hm, turning down a free meal isn’t really something I like doing, but I can’t betray my little buddy! He’s going to be so mad when he sees us!” Nevertheless, Owen said exactly where their destination was right after that, apologizing profusely the entire time to himself for giving away this most secret of locations. After all, Noah really hadn’t wanted to be found, and here he was, leading them straight to him.

There was an empty parking spot right in front of the townhouse that Owen swore was the one they wanted, and when he saw that it was empty, he started to nearly panic. “Guys,” he virtually screamed, earning the attention of everyone in the car, “he’s not home! This means he’s going to come home and see us here and just leave! We can’t be here!”

“Calm down, big guy. If he’s not home, then we’ll just come back later.” Geoff steered the car away from the building and headed back out to the road. “Bet he’ll be back after we go get you the meal we should probs get you for what you’ve told us, though. He can’t be gone forever.”

“You’re right.” As if on cue, right after having food getting bought mentioned, Owen’s stomach rumbled. “I could go for a nice meal right now too, heh. Maybe Noah will be back once I’ve been fed.”

“That’s the spirit, bro! Now just tell me the way to where you wanna go, and we’ll go there!” Now, if this were any other situation, using food as a bribe like this would have most likely backfired incredibly badly, and they would not only have been stuck supplying someone as gluttonous as Owen with whatever he wanted, but they would also have not gotten to speak to the person they wanted to. But there was something funny about how indecisive Owen was at picking where he wanted to go, and it turned out that he was trying to pick somewhere where they wouldn’t run into the problem of him being there all day wanting to try a little bit of everything.

He ultimately decided on a little hole-in-the wall café, one that he said he and Noah had gone to before, so he knew exactly what he would want. “I just want to make this easy for you, and your wallet,” he explained, as they were getting out of the car to go inside. Meanwhile, Izzy was tugging at his arm, trying to attract his attention without interrupting him. The reason for that was to be found out as soon as they opened the door to the café and heard a groan from within.

“Really? Can’t believe you brought others with you.” It was Noah’s voice, and the four got to see him standing before them, his arms crossed over his chest. “Thought you promised you wouldn’t come with anyone but Izzy with you.”

“I’m so sorry! They convinced me that it would be okay and I didn’t mean to do it but you know how hard it is for me to say no to a friend!” He almost broke out in tears, but was stopped by a calming pat on the arm from Bridgette, who looked at Noah with an inviting expression upon her face.

“I know it’s probably not anything you want to hear right now, but we’re not here to drag you into anything. We just were in the area and wanted to catch up with you.” She extended her hand to Noah, who scoffed at it. “Sorry that this comes as a surprise, but it was a last-minute kind of decision.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Don’t care. I know how you two are, in with Chris and the media and everything, because I once was in with him too. Worst decision ever.”

“Hey man, Chris isn’t that bad of a guy. Sure he’s mean and doesn’t care about anything except himself, but he’s nice when you get to know him.” Geoff had also extended his hand for a handshake and had been rejected, and was now just trying to keep things from getting too hurtful. “Now let’s sit somewhere, get some grub, maybe talk a bit. There’s a lotta catching up we could be doing right now.”

“Like I’d want to catch up to you two. I said it already, I know you’re in with the media. Last thing I need is you two to run your mouths on air about me and have my life get ruined by the camera craze again. Not happening. Sorry.” He tried to push past the four of them in the doorway, and while he could get easily past Geoff and Bridgette, getting past Owen and Izzy was a bit harder, especially when Izzy began clinging to him. “Hey, get off of me, would you? Still not over you breaking things at my place last time I saw you!”

“You’re not really going to try to leave, are you?” Owen asked, hoping that Izzy was enough of a distraction to stop Noah, but when he shook her off and tried to push by him, he realized that yes, he was indeed going to try. “I don’t think you’re going to get to. Come on, just stay with us. They’re nice I swear!”

“They’re nice and they’re going to sell us out to the media to get paid. Not buying this niceness for a minute, so just let me go and we’ll talk later. Alone. Without anyone I don’t want to see.” Noah was insistent, but there was no way he was going to get out of the door with Owen intentionally blocking him in. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were now causing a scene in the entryway of a café, it would have gone on for hours, but the owner of the place came out and asked them all to either come in and stay in, or leave and never come back, and there was no winning that battle.

So Noah ended up having to sit through a meal with four people that only one of which was someone he was interested in talking to, and that wasn’t the one who was trying to talk to him. “Dude, how’s it been?” Geoff asked as soon as the waitress had come by and taken their order. “Last I saw you, you were pretty much done with everything and anything. Changed at all, or is that just how it goes?”

“No, I was done with being lumped in with the same class of rejects that got me into the fame business. Now that I don’t have to be involved in that, and there aren’t cameras outside my window at all times, I’m just trying to stay away from it the best I can. Guess I failed, since I decided to trust Owen, of all people, with my address.” He glared over at Owen, who was snacking on the complimentary rolls that the waitress had left them. “And now I’m here. Yay. How fun for me.”

“You can trust us that we’re not going to get you drawn back into the fame thing.” Smiling at him to make him feel more comfortable, Bridgette made sure to explain why she meant what she said. “We aren’t trying to get people back in the spotlight if they don’t want to be. That may have been what Chris originally wanted, but he’s changed his mind and we’re just trying to catch up with everyone and only invite people to the reunion if they really want to go to it.”

“Figures this is about a reunion. Wondered how long it would take for someone to realize how long it’s been since the show happened and try to round us all back up.” He pointed in Geoff’s direction for the next part. “I bet you’re all about getting the hot girls on board, hm?” Then he moved his finger so it aimed at Bridgette, whose face was falling fast with the realization that Noah wasn’t going to be very friendly about things at all. “And you, let me guess, you’re trying to get all the guys involved. What, are you not good enough for each other after all?”

Of the two, it was Geoff who got more offended by the comments. “We’re each other’s perfect match, thank you very much! She’s my ride or die and I’m hers, and there ain’t a single person out there who could make me change my mind about my nature babe here.” It was almost worthy of a deep, romantic sigh from Bridgette, but then he went and followed it up with something completely dumb to say with her right next to him: “Besides, all the hot chicks don’t want anything to do with this.”

“Excuse me?” she loudly asked, making him recount that last statement. “Okay, whatever, and I am so not just trying to get guys involved! I want all my old friends to be there, and that’s like no guys at all!”

“Minus me, I think,” Owen said with his mouth full, his words garbled. Once he swallowed what he had been chewing he added more to his thought. “And maybe you, Noah. I mean, they wanted to make the trip here from my place to come see you. Pretty sure that means there’s some friendly business afoot.”

He rolled his eyes again. “That, or they’re just trying to get me to play along with their dumb game long enough to get me to say something newsworthy. Well guess what? I’m not stupid, and there’s no way you’re going to get me to fall for this trick.”

Bridgette knew that in order to get through to Noah, they were first going to have to convince him that they weren’t there to spread his secrets to the world, but she wasn’t entirely sure about how she was supposed to do that. “I don’t think there’s any tricks here, just us wanting to catch up with someone we used to know. Is there a problem with that?”

“Uh, yes, namely that you two are big radio superstars and have millions of listeners weekly on your little show that you will share my life on.” Noah went to stand up, but was pushed back down by Izzy, who laughed as she did it. “Ugh. Okay, looks like I’m not going to leave before this gets repetitive. Thanks.”

“Welcome!” Izzy said in reply, still laughing. “Gotta help out the friends who are treating us to lunch somehow, and if that means keeping a shrimp in his seat for some grilling, then I’m so going to do just that!”

“We aren’t here to share secrets,” Bridgette explained, silently thanking Izzy for being willing to get hands-on with someone who wasn’t cooperating. “We’re here to just see what you’ve been up to. Trust me, if we were going to share secrets, we’d have brought paper or something to write them down. We’re not the best with details.”

“Yeah, we aren’t, and we’re not gossips or anything. We just talk the truth!” Geoff lifted his glass of water and slammed it down on the table, shattering it from the bottom. The water crept across the table, floating bits and pieces of glass with it. “Whoops. Didn’t mean to do that.”

This time when Noah got up, he wasn’t stopped by Izzy. “Yeah, I’m done here. No point in hanging around you guys because either you really are going to ruin my life again, or you’re going to get me banned from this place.” Before he left, he looked at Owen, who was salvaging the rolls by shoving them in his mouth as fast as he could. “Dude, next time you’re going to come by, please warn me that you’ve brought a group along. I’ll make sure to have admission money for the freak show.”

He left them all looking between each other and the mess on the table, unsure really of how to handle what had just happened.

* * *

While the idea of Noah just leaving everyone behind was the best one he had come up with at that moment, it never dawned on him that everyone could easily find him at his house later, and that was where he decided to go once he had left the café. Where else would he have gone in such a dinky little town out in the rural backwoods of Canada, where he had resigned himself to live the rest of his life, far from the media that had consumed it for a short period of time?

He really should have thought the plan through a bit better, because a little more than an hour after the scene there at the table, there was a knock at his door. Rather than instantly assume that it was someone he should personally turn away, he groaned and accepted his fate that yes, Owen had told them where exactly he lived, and now he was going to have to deal with round two of the media circus that he figured was Geoff and Bridgette. He opened the door with a look of disgust on his face, and hoped that it would be enough to get the point across to these people that he really, really did not want to talk to them, not there, not anywhere else, not ever.

It did the exact opposite. “Come on, man, you’ve gotta just accept it that we care,” Geoff said, walking in through the front door like he was invited in. “We wanna be your pals!”

“And I want nothing to do with any of you, mostly. Even then, the one of you I can tolerate is getting on my nerves because of all of this.” Cue Owen apologizing about his role in the events, which fell on deaf ears. “Just get out of my place, leave me to my solitary life, and tell your precious listeners that I’m not available for comment.”

“But we’re not here for listeners.” Hadn’t she been trying to explain that already? Bridgette was sure that she had, but apparently what she was saying was just being ignored, much like those apologies. “We’re here because we’ve realized that we really need to work on keeping up with old friends. So maybe what Chris wanted us to do with this reunion thing is what made us realize that, but we’re not here to make you come to the reunion. We get it, you don’t want to go to that, and we so respect that decision! Doesn’t mean we don’t want to talk to you, though.” She stepped right inside the doorway, with Izzy and Owen still behind her. “So what do you say? Want to stop being so negative about this and talk to us?”

He looked from her to Geoff, who was making himself comfortable on one of the chairs in the living room, then back to her. “Not really. You guys aren’t all that interesting, and I can’t be sure that you’re not going to sell me out.”

“Oh come on, just trust them!” Izzy ducked past Bridgette and got into the room, grabbing Noah in a hug that lifted him off of the floor. Despite his protests to put him down, she spun him around while still in the hug. “They’re, like, totally trustworthy. If you can put your faith in me and Owen, there’s no reason at all to doubt them! I mean, really! They found all sorts of addresses I guess and didn’t sell those out to the world, so why would they choose to do that to you?”

“Because, I don’t know, knowing my life is more interesting than maybe knowing where someone lives?” He squirmed in her arms, struggling and failing to get out of her grasp. “Can you please put me down?”

“Not until you agree to just talk to them! Stop being a sour puss and just do it!” When he finally agreed to talk, if only for a few minutes, she did as she promised and put him down. However, in typical Izzy fashion, she didn’t set him back on his feet, but rather unceremoniously dropped him on the floor. As he righted himself, everyone came into the room and sat down, ready and eager to hear what he was going to say to whatever he was going to be asked, or so he thought.

“Now, tell us a bit about what you’ve been up to.” It wasn’t a question, and it was very much open-ended and something that could be abused when it came to telling the world through a radio show, but it was what Geoff chose to say when he got the chance to. “Done anything awesome since we last saw each other? I mean, you probably have. It’s been years!”

“Does it look like I’ve done anything?” He brushed himself off, silently cursing Izzy for having dropped him on the floor, and once he was done he saw the blank look he was getting from the person who had asked him the question in the first place. “Okay, it looks like I’m going to have to spell this one out for you. I have done nothing except hide from the crazy people who think they care about my life since they keep trying to find me. I have had to move around so many times, just to escape that insanity. Apparently it’s a big deal when you make a private lawsuit against someone famous? Whatever. He deserved it.”

“You aren’t the only one who did that to Chris,” Bridgette said, hoping that it would make Noah feel a bit better about what he had just said. “From what he told us when he brought up the whole reunion thing, there’s a lot of people who did that.”

“Or so he says. He’s bound to be bitter about me doing it. I did act as his assistant that one time. Probably thought I’d have some brand loyalty with him or something.”

“No, I’m pretty sure he means it. He really wanted to be part of the reunion but can’t because of how many people sued him and all that stuff.” She watched his eyes shift their gaze to the floor, and when he sighed she knew that she had hit something within him. “So don’t feel bad about what you did. You wanted away from the spotlight he likes shining on unwilling people, and you did what you had to do.”

He sighed again, looking back up to glare at her. “No, I could have gone about it differently. Now that I know others did it this way too, there’s got to have been a better way. One that would have kept people like _you_ away too.”

“What did we even do, yo?” Hearing that their presence was once again being attacked, Geoff had to get back involved in the conversation. “We’re just chill people, living our lives the way we choose. We’ve done nothing bad to you.”

“Not yet, anyway. And you managed to convince the only person alive I consider a friend that you’re not going to do any wrong to any of us, which I’m sure is a lie. I’m just waiting for when you admit to having a camera crew at the ready.” Noah looked to all the corners of the room, expecting to see flashing lights or out of place items waiting for him, but there was nothing of the sort. “Well? Are you going to say it?”

“Say what?” Geoff and Bridgette spoke at the same time, giving Noah identical confused glances.

“That this is all a setup you’re using! A ruse! You’re just trying to get some footage of me for that reunion without my consent!” They were still giving him confused looks even after he explained what he wanted to hear, and it hit him that maybe, just maybe, they were being genuine with their words. “Okay, maybe you’re not as underhanded as I would have assumed, since you’re here on orders from Chris McLean.”

On behalf of his friends, Owen was the one who spoke next. “They’re not here for him. Do you really think I’m such a bad friend that I would have told them where you live if they were coming here for Chris?”

“They wouldn’t have told you. No one tells the truth anymore to get things done. There’s always a secondary motive behind everything!” He was still getting those looks, and it was trying to click within him that they weren’t like other members of the media, that they really were the nice people they were trying to be. But Noah had been through enough because of people he had known on that show, most specifically Chris, and he wasn’t going to drop his guard just because they were being nice and clueless. He knew that there was a chance that they were all in on this great lie, and just waiting for him to bite the bait and fall right into their trap.

“Listen, Noah, I know how you think we’re all some conspiracy theory against you, and you’re probably going to call the authorities to let them know where I am because of this, but we are all nice. Well, okay, Geoff and Bridgette and Owen are nice, and you know how I am.” Izzy jumped to her feet from where she was seated, rushing back over to him and making the move to pick him up once more. He vocally objected to that plan and she laughed, still in a crouched position ready for lifting. “See? You knew what I was going to do, but that’s because I’ve done it before! What about them? When have they done what you’re so scared of them doing?”

“Like I would know. You think I keep tabs on them?” He saw her make a small move with her arms, opening them a bit to wrap him in them, and he took that opportunity to push her away with his hand in her face. “I try to stay as far away from everyone from back then, aside from Owen, and that means that I just don’t care.”

“Then if you don’t care, why don’t you trust them?” Her voice was muffled by his hand still being on her face as he tried to keep her away, but he was able to make her words out clearly enough. Then she bit him and he yelped in pain, while she cackled and went back to her seat. “Oh, come on, I didn’t bite you that hard!”

He was inspecting his hand for any traces of blood as she said that, and that was his last straw with her. “Izzy, get out. I’ll let them stay, but you? You’ve got to go. I think you’ve infected me with your crazy with that bite.”

“My crazy isn’t infectious, but whatever. I’ll be out at the park, playing, like I always am when you kick me out!” Retrieving some sort of pellet from somewhere on her body, Izzy threw it down and the room filled with smoke, and once the air cleared and the smoke detector was turned off, she was long gone.

“Does that happen a lot?” Geoff asked, seeing how uncaring Noah seemed about what had just happened. “Like, do you kick her out all the time?”

“Every time she’s here, yes. And yet she comes back.”

* * *

They managed to talk for a few hours, not really about anything important, but when it was finally time to leave there was the feeling that there had been some real progress made in getting Noah to trust them. Or, at least, there was, until he was walking them out to the little rental car and seemed happy to see them go. “Come on, didn’t we make you want to interact with us again sometime?” Bridgette half-jokingly asked, hoping that she would get him to say something totally against the emotion his facial expression was giving. “Not like at the reunion or anything, but maybe the next time we’re in the area?”

“No thank you. I would much rather have all of my teeth pulled than have to tell my life story to someone ever again.” He stood at the end of the sidewalk, watching them all approach the car they had come in. “Nice to know that you still think I’m interesting enough to warrant talking to, though. Makes a man feel good.”

“Of course you’re interesting! You were on TV once!” Geoff had opened the driver’s side door and was about to climb in, when he thought better of it and quite literally charged towards Noah, tackling him in a hug. “You gave us a good talk, bro, and we’re so glad you did that. You made _us_ feel good.”

“Uh huh, now let go of me please.” Geoff did exactly as told, and once again Noah was brushing himself off. “I just want to get back to living my boring life in the middle of nowhere, with one friend to speak of, so if you could just go and never come back, I would appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.”

“What’s the matter, little buddy? They’ve done nothing but be nice to you…” Owen, poking his head out the window of the car, having already gotten himself situated in his cramped seat, gave his friend a sad look. “Least you can do is say thanks for coming to visit.”

Like he had so many times that day, he rolled his eyes dramatically. “Yeah, sure, I’ll thank them once I know none of this will end up online.”

“None of it’s going to, so you can thank us now.” The glare he received for that made Geoff retreat back to the car. “Or maybe not. See ya later, Noah.”

“Thanks, see you never.” Without another word, he walked back to his home, leaving the three of them at the car, getting in and eventually pulling away and headed back to the house out in the middle of absolute nowhere.

Or, at least, that had been the original plan, but about twenty minutes into the drive Owen made an observation that should have been made before they ever left town. “Guys, I think we left Izzy back there,” he said, patting the empty seat next to him. “She’s probably harassing Noah even more, and he really does not like when she does that to him. We should go back.”

It wasn’t so much that they should, but rather that they had to. Leaving someone behind somewhere she most definitely wasn’t wanted was the last thing that they wanted to do and be aware of having done, and when they did make it back into town and find her swinging silently at a playground a few blocks from the townhouse where Noah lived, she wasn’t even a bit mad that they had forgotten about her. In fact, she was happy that they had let her have that extended amount of reflection and self-discovery that she didn’t shut up about a single one of her thoughts without being prompted to stop talking.

That made for things the next day to go over so much smoother, when Geoff and Bridgette left the backwoods and headed back home, done with those friends and old acquaintances (because, as Bridgette later put it, there was no use in referring to Noah as a friend because he was not even close to a friend to anyone but Owen). Getting back to their nice place in a busy neighborhood was a return to a busy life that they had grown accustomed to, but they knew that another change was going to happen soon. They just didn’t know when, why, or most importantly, where it would take them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I love writing Noah so much. And Izzy and Owen too, but Noah is a treasure that I need to find excuses to write more.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and these shenanigans! The next chapter gets into "here's where these stories connect" territory with "love's all a game to [her, him, them]" so if you haven't read that one (the spoilers are for up to chapter 6 of it), you may find yourself wondering what the heck is a certain character going on about, and why don't I know about it? I'm warning you in advance in case you wanna prepare yourself. (:


	5. An Unhealthy Dose of Insanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff and Bridgette are treated to a visit at home by one of the past competitors not on their "contact" list, and it gets incredibly awkward multiple times. But what else is to be expected when Sierra's around?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa hey, pre-chapter note! Basically, this chapter gets a bit into the plot of the first, eh, six chapters or so of "love's all a game to [her, him, them]" so if you haven't read that, you're in for a treat! If you wanted to read that, go get through chapter six right now and come back! This'll still be waiting, and probably a lot more enjoyable if you understand that this precedes all of that nonsense! :D

It was a week or two after they had gotten home that there was a knock at their door. Geoff’s first thought was that it was Noah getting revenge on them for what had happened at his place, but he was very quick to realize that it was incredibly unlikely for that to be the case, because the only way he would have known where they lived was if Owen or Izzy gave him their address, and there was no way he was going to go to either of them that soon after the events of that day. His second thought was that it was Chris, coming to check up on their progress in the reunion endeavor.

Neither of those thoughts were even close to right, he learned when he peeked out the front window to the house and saw a hooded figure standing at the door. It was just some random person, probably lost and confused, and most definitely not looking for blood or anything from either of the house’s occupants. When he cracked open the door, to ask the person what they needed, he noticed their smile from under the hood, just below his eye level. Whoever this was, they were almost as tall as he was, which eliminated most people he could think of. “Uh, what’s up?” he asked, wary of what intentions this person had.

“Sorry to be a bother like this, but I think I’ve got something to help you out with.” The voice was nasally and overall very annoying, and Geoff couldn’t help but feel like he’d heard it before. “After all, how are you going to do a reunion show without consulting the one person who knows literally everything about Total Drama?” Flipping off her hood, the person revealed herself to be Sierra, the show’s biggest superfan, and Geoff’s instincts told him to just slam the door on her and leave her out in the cold.

His heart told him to let her in and ask questions later, which is exactly what he did. She came in shivering, thanking him over and over again for letting her in once the door was shut behind her, because she had forgotten the exact house number she was looking for and had to resort to going door-to-door to find where she wanted to be. “Then why wear a hood? People around here don’t trust hooded people. Say they’re suspicious or something.” He watched her shrug, still shivering as she did. “How did you find this house anyway? And how did you know about the reunion? Didn’t think we invited you.”

“Easy, Cody’s mom got a letter from you guys, so she sent it to him, and since I read all his mail before he gets to see it, whoops, I sorta found out. But don’t worry, when you talked all about it on Gidgette Weekly like the next day, I felt better about knowing. Didn’t want to have spoiled some big news on accident when I posted a blog about it.” She was taking her hoodie off, and a sweater from underneath it as well. “I try not to ruin too many super cool surprises on my blogs, but I’m sure I could post anything on some of them and no one would care. You and Bridgette are two of the few famous ones left, I swear.” Mentioning the other person she expected to see present, Sierra looked around wildly. “Where is Bridgette, anyway? Shouldn’t she be here?”

“She’s sleeping still. Long night last night.” He shook his head, before noticing the look of shock on Sierra’s face. “What’s that for? My Bridge-y bear is a very busy woman. She was out doing some charity thing. Nothing bad.”

The shock subsided and was replaced with disappointment. “I thought you were going to admit to something totally news worthy. Charity? Everyone already knows she does that. Now if it was a confirmation that you two are totally together in more than just a romantic, kissy-kiss every once in a while kind of way, I would be the first to break that news.”

“Not really sure where you’re going with that one, sorry.” He offered her a chair and she declined the offer, starting to walk around a bit trying to warm up. “You gonna explain what you mean, or what?”

She waved a hand trying to get him to forget about what she had said. “It’s nothing important. I get that I’m not going to find out about your at-home activities and that’s so okay with me, because at least I’m here. That’s what matters.” He shrugged, still not sure what she was going on about, and she noticed that. “Okay, so the online community is really curious about you and Bridgette and what you two, um, do behind closed doors. I told my followers that, if given the chance, I’d ask, and now here we are, so what do you do when it’s private time between you and her?”

“What do we do…? That’s not something I think you ask someone who just let you in their door, but we just do couple stuff. Talk about our day. Cuddle a bit. She’s like a cat when you hold her in your arms and she’s tired and she just purrs. It’s the cutest thing.” He saw that Sierra looked disappointed in that answer, and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to make her pleased. “What’s up now? Not what you wanted?”

“Not exactly. The cat thing, that’s cool, but not exactly what my readers are looking for.” He was still not sure what she wanted, she could tell that by looking at the wildly confused look on his face, and so she thought of a different way to approach the subject. “Okay, what’s something your listeners really like hearing about?”

“You mean besides Total Drama stuff? Because man, everyone calls in when we start talking about that kind of thing.”

Finally sitting down, she said that yes, besides that. “Something that isn’t what made you famous,” was the way she worded it, which got him thinking.

“Uh, I guess they like when we talk about scandals and that kind of stuff. Bridge doesn’t like when we do that, though. Says it’s slander and mean and not anything we should do.” It clicked then, that Sierra was asking about something more inappropriate and more akin to the rough topics they hit on sometimes. “Wait a second, are you asking about our alone time? Like, time between me and her and what we’ve been given? Because I’m not dumb, I know better than to tell anyone about that.”

“One time on your show you mentioned that you thought magnum was an appropriate enough descriptor for your...boy bits.” She had to stifle a giggle as she brought that up, and his face turned a pale shade of red. “See, I listen to what you say on the radio, and since you did talk about that one time, maybe I’ve got a chance at getting to know if anything came of that incident.”

“No! Not telling you! My business!” He was covering his mouth, eyes wide with shock that she had even brought that up. “Can’t believe people actually want to know about that!”

“You work in the media, you should know that people care about everything when it comes to the rich and famous.” Her eyes were starting to water at how funny the situation had become, and her laughter was no longer able to be held. There was a problem with her laughing, though, and that was that it was so loud and unlike any noise normally heard in the house that it woke Bridgette up and brought her out into the room, still in her pajamas and still very much half-asleep. “Oh my gosh, it’s Bridgette! She is alive!”

“Hm? Someone call my name?” she asked, yawning and arching her back to stretch. “Geoff, is there an intruder here who knows me?”

He was still recovering from the shock of what had happened, so it took him a moment to get to her about that. “Yeah, it’s Sierra. She’s here, prying into our lives about things that I’m pretty sure I don’t want the world to know.”

Even in her tired state, Bridgette knew instantly what he was referring to. “You said the magnum thing on the air, Geoff. The world already knows about that.” Leaving him to get embarrassed and flustered about it once more, she yawned again and turned to Sierra. “Hi, how’d you find our place?”

“Easy. You sent a letter and Cody’s mom sent it to Cody and I read it and knew I had to get involved. I still run all those fan blogs, you know. Still snoop and pry and know lots about people you’re going to want to know about.” She puffed her chest out a bit, feeling pride about her stalking skills. “Unless you’re not going to want my help, but why wouldn’t you want my help? I’m the most helpful person when it comes to finding the old Total Drama contestants. Except Noah. Can’t really find him.”

“We found him, hiding from people like us. Don’t bother looking for him anymore, because he is not exactly nice about being found.” Still trying to fully wake up, Bridgette took the seat right next to Sierra’s and rested her elbows on her legs, propping her head up on her hands. “So you found us by stalking Cody?”

“Not exactly.” Sierra put a finger to her lips, thinking about how she was going to embark on telling this story, but quickly decided that oversharing was more important than just the small details. “So okay, after we were done with the show, I went to Cody and told him that I really did love him and wanted to be with him forever, yadda yadda, boring stuff like that, and it got me nowhere. He just doesn’t ever want to romance me! But that’s okay, because it turns out that he isn’t exactly keen on driving, and guess what? I’ve got a car that’s as fierce as my hair.” At that, she flipped her long ponytail, the different shades of purple glistening in the morning light coming through the windows in the house. “And he needed a driver. So we aren’t together, nope, but we live together and I drive him wherever he needs to go and we’ve got a great system going! Well, okay, mostly great.”

“Mostly great? You’re living with the guy you’re in love with! I’d say that’s very great!” There was a lack of interest in Bridgette’s voice, but she tried to mask it with excitement. “What could be wrong with the arrangement you’ve got?”

“Two things. One, the place we live is terrible! It’s super cheap, because he makes his money doing cashier work sometimes, and I make my money from ad revenue on my blogs, which isn’t exactly a lot. It’s got thin walls that let you hear everything possible through them! Do you know how many times I’ve heard him talking in his sleep about marrying other women that aren’t me?” She looked frantic at just the thought of Cody being with anyone else, something that Bridgette found odd until the second point was made. “And two, when we drive places, it’s always to tournaments of his. He plays pool. Isn’t very good at it, but he’s going to get better. I believe in my Codykins! But that’s not what’s important about the driving, because let me tell you, I love being in the car with him! I just don’t love being in the car with his other girl friends.”

Bridgette cocked her head slightly to one side and looked a bit surprised. “Girl friends? As in, he’s dating them, or they’re girls who he’s friends with?”

“Ew, second one! I would never ever support him being with either of these ladies, because he’s got me around!” Once again she was puffing her chest out, incredibly prideful about something that wasn’t even as great as she was trying to make it sound. Sure she lived with him, but they weren’t together like she wanted them to be, and she was clearly not okay with that. “It’s always me and him and one of those girls wherever we go, and I just want them gone!”

“Then ask them to maybe get their own rides to where you’re taking them?”

“It’s not that easy, Bridgette! You wouldn’t understand, because you’re rich and famous and have a man who is loyal to you, but these ladies are such suckers for a man who’s trying to make it big in tournaments.” She gave a small sniffle. “They’re trying to steal my man. And that’s why I—no, I can’t say that, that’s a secret no one’s supposed to know.”

“Sierra, you can trust me with anything. I mean, you’re not going to hear about any of this on the radio, so you can trust me. Promise.” She lifted her head a bit, trying to look Sierra in the eyes, but she was purposefully avoiding eye contact. “Wait a second, is this a secret that’s a bad kind of secret?”

She nodded. “Yes, but you have to swear you won’t tell a soul about it! I could be in so much trouble if this secret got out before its time!” Bridgette stuck a pinky out and Sierra grabbed it tightly. “Okay, so I may or may not be involved in a bit of plotting to get some old Total Drama couples back together. No big deal, except it totally is because getting them back together means getting the ladies away from Cody and then that means that me and him will be able to get together!”

“That’s…really interesting, Sierra.”

“I wasn’t done! So okay it all started a few months ago, when I got this really weird message on one of my blogs about where someone was. I’m not really a big fan of outing someone’s location, because that’s so mean, but when I found out who it was and why they were asking, oh man I just had to help! Especially when the person in question is someone who is so totally lusting after my Cody!” She huffed, taking a second to collect herself before she continued on. “So maybe it is still super wrong to tell someone where their ex-girlfriend is and where she is going to be and all her flight information and everything, but I had a good reason, I swear!”

“You act like I’m judging you for what you’ve done. Which I’m not.” Blinking a few times to make sure she was still awake, Bridgette smiled. “I’m just being a supportive listener, no judging here at all.”

“I’m not thinking that you’re judging me for all that. I just don’t think you’re really happy about listening to this right now, and it’s about to get a whole lot worse. I know how you feel about one of these people involved.” When asked about how she would know such a thing, she had the perfect answer: “I listen to your show, duh. I know how you feel about everything and everyone, and I heard you that one time like two years ago when someone who totally must not have watched any episode of Total Drama ever but just read recaps asked you guys about me and Aleja—“

“Don’t say that name!” It broke Geoff from his embarrassment and made Bridgette perk her head up completely, and they yelled that at the same time, catching Sierra by surprise.

“—huh? Why am I not supposed to talk about him? He is very vital to the story I was telling!” She gave them both a confused look. “How am I supposed to talk about mine and his plot to get him back with Heather, if I’m not supposed to talk about him?”

Again, the two others spoke at the same time, with varying levels of surprise in their voices. “Wait, they broke up?”

“Yes, oh my gosh, you guys didn’t know that? That’s like, super old news! I think he said he left her, uh, a month after they were finally free of Total Drama? Where have you guys been if you didn’t know about that?” Sierra sounded absolutely confused about how two popular personalities in the radio business didn’t know such a fact about two people that had once been on the same show as them. “Oh, wait, let me guess, you ignored it because whoever was trying to tell you used his name, huh?”

“Don’t talk down to us, but yeah, that’s probably how it went.” Bridgette put her head back down and gave a soft laugh. “But wait, you said he _left_ her. Why is he trying to get back together with her if he did that?”

“It’s a really long story, and I don’t think you want me to tell you it, because let me tell you, it would be like an hour of me talking about nothing but him, and you really, really don’t want me to do that and have to say his name every sentence or something. Even though the way his name rolls off the tongue is so fun.” She put her lips in position to say the name again, but was stopped by Geoff grabbing her shoulders and looking her dead in the eyes, his cheeks finally faded back to their normal fleshy tone. “Okay, sorry, going to stop talking about him now and get on to the other part of all this. Because I’m going to be totally honest here, Heather isn’t the person I have the biggest problem with hanging around Cody.”

Geoff’s shoulders sank as he let go of hers. “Okay, if it isn’t her, and she’s the most horrible person who would ever be around any of us ever, then who is it?”

“Oh, just Gwen, who Cody is still totally in love with! Like, how am I supposed to get to make my move on him if he’s still drooling all over her?” She shuddered, but Geoff and Bridgette weren’t as disgusted by the revelation as she had been hoping, because she was then faced with the task of explaining why she was so against Gwen. “Like I said, my precious Cody is still in love with her, and she’s just so chill and nice and she doesn’t want him—thank goodness—but she’s still there. So I’ve been sending letters to someone who used to be in her life in hopes that maybe, just maybe, I can convince him to want to be with Gwen again so that she gets out of my life so I can be all that’s in Cody’s!”

“You know what? You came in, making me think that you were going to be useful to our whole reunion thing, but now that you’ve said what you’ve said, I think you just need to go.” Not normally so up front about things, Bridgette was clearly over with trying not to judge Sierra and whatever she had to say. “I would think that you knowing where two of the people we couldn’t contact are would be useful, but now I know that you don’t want to know where they are! You want them gone!”

“Yeah, but I have reason for wanting them gone! I get no time alone with Cody if they’re around, and that’s just the hardest thing ever, to be with him but to have some other girl he’s so totally interested in around!” She couldn’t help but laugh as she said that though, one of those awkward laughs that made everyone listening wonder if she even really knew what she was talking about. “Of course, he insists that he’s not interested in either of them, but I know he is. And that’s why they’ve got to go.”

“Sierra, did you ever stop to think that maybe he’s telling you the truth when he says he’s not interested in them? Getting rid of them isn’t going to make him love you.” Since being forceful and mean wasn’t the way to go, Bridgette figured that maybe laying down facts would. “Besides, hooking them up with other guys isn’t going to work. If…well, you know, really did leave her, then she’s not dumb enough to want to get back with him. And I don’t know who you’re sending letters to on Gwen’s behalf, but she’s too strong and independent of a woman to want any man she’s left behind.”

“Did I not say who I was trying to get her with? Whoops. Probably for the best that I don’t ruin that surprise too. It’s going to work, I promise you, and when it does, she’s going to leave me and Cody alone forever and it’ll be the best thing ever!”

Geoff slapped himself on the forehead. “Or it’ll be the stupidest thing, and I know stupid things pretty well. Say them and do them all the time myself.”

“I would have thought that you’d understand how true love works. Since I know that this is all matters of true love, I know it’s not going to be stupid at all, and that’s that.” Indignantly, she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get Cody to myself, and if that means selling out his friends to guys they don’t want anything to do with, then that’s how it’s gonna be. They’re all going to fall in love, and I know it.”

“Whatever, I think you’re going to be super disappointed when they’re still hanging around and not falling for your plans.” Bridgette tried to put on a smile but couldn’t manage to do it, instead giving Sierra a bit of a disgusted look. “Why don’t you just accept that Cody doesn’t want to be with you, and learn to live with that?”

“Because there’s always hope, and I’m not going to give up until there’s no way at all that it’s going to work out. Besides, I know that my plans are going to work and then I’ll get the man of my dreams when they’ve got theirs.” The arms dropped and Sierra got to her feet, walking around the room a bit to see what was decorating the walls. She looked past pictures upon pictures of the couple with famous people, and eventually rested on one of them with the rest of the Total Drama cast back when the show first started. “Oh, if only you guys believed in me…”  
“There’s no reason to believe in you and your crazy ideas. Sorry.” Geoff had followed her to the picture, and watched as she ran her fingers across it, letting her touch linger on the spot where the person she so badly lusted after was located. “Uh, hey, no touching the picture.”

She pulled her hand back. “Whoops, sorry about that. Just kinda got lost in my thoughts about how much I love that boy. I can’t wait to get the chance to do to him what I helped a certain someone do to the woman of his dreams recently.” She turned, her cheeks covered in a bit of a blush, to see Geoff giving her a blank look. “Right, slipped my mind for a second that you guys didn’t know about them breaking up in the first place, so how were you supposed to know that, thanks mostly to my super great help, they totally hooked up, but didn’t get back together, on an airplane a few weeks ago? I’m so dumb, thinking you’d know about that, but you know what? At least I’m not as dumb as he was once it was over. I mean, he left her without another word because he thought he wasn’t quite ready to get back together with her. As if, he’s totally still in love with her and I know she feels the same, even if all she does is talk about how terrible he is.”

It was a lot to take in, and Geoff really wasn’t sure how much of it he was supposed to understand, but he did get that she had been talking about wanting to, in simple terms, get down and dirty with Cody aboard a plane. “Uh, thanks for sharing, Sierra. Maybe it’s time you should go.”

“Go? But I’ve barely gotten to talk to you guys about anything yet! It’s like you don’t care about what I’ve got that could help you out with your planning!” Unfazed by the fact that she had just been talking about her dirty thoughts, she pulled her phone out and immediately opened up its browser, taking her to a homepage with all of her blogs on it. “Look, here’s where everything I know and love becomes useful to you. Here,” she said, shoving her phone at Geoff, “take it and look!”

“We’ve gone on your blogs before, Sierra. I thought you said you listened to our show. You should know that we read stuff off of those all the time.” He tried to push her phone away, but she was insistent and so he sighed and accepted his fate, grabbing it and looking through the list. “Yes, yes, this is all interesting. You still should leave though. Don’t need you weirding me out any more than you already have.”

She seemed downcast, snagging her phone back, but when she walked over to where Bridgette was still sitting and chose to push her phone at her instead, it was clear that Sierra was not going to be kicked out so easily. “Okay, please look at what I have for you. You want help, yeah?”

“Yeah, but now that I know things about you and your relationships with some of the people I’d like your help with, maybe I don’t want help from you. Maybe someone else. Like, hm, maybe the person who the letter you read was supposed to go to?” Bridgette pushed the phone to the floor, mostly on accident, and Sierra freaked out, making sure it hadn’t broken in the fall. “If Cody was here and not you, I’m sure he’d be all for helping get his friends involved in this, but you came and you don’t deserve the honor of getting to help with the reunion. You just deserve to have your secrets outed.”

“You promised you wouldn’t!”

“I’m not going to, but you better think about me knowing those secrets next time you try to talk to us. One wrong move and the world will know you’re betraying people.” She knew she sounded sinister, which wasn’t the intention she had, but it made Sierra back off, just muttering to herself about her phone and how it had a scratch on it that hadn’t been there before. “I think it’s time for you to go. Sorry this is how this had to happen.”

Sierra looked from her phone to Bridgette, then back to her phone, then to Geoff, who was nodding in agreement with what his girlfriend had said, and then back to her phone once more. “You don’t know what you’d be missing out on if you kick me out. I know how to find everyone, and you guys obviously don’t!”

“But you know this stuff to pry into their lives, while we don’t want that. We don’t want anything to do with you and your style of crazy, and that’s just how it’s gonna be.” Geoff pointed towards the door, knowing that Sierra wasn’t looking at him. “Now go, dude. It’s definitely past your time to be gone.”

She had been there for not even half an hour and she had already managed to anger two of the most easygoing people in existence to the point that they wanted her gone. It would have been an achievement, if it hadn’t been so long of a trip for her to get the chance to help them out, and she was not going to give up trying so easily. “Come on, please, one more try?” she asked, putting her phone away. “I take back everything I said. All that about wanting everyone away from my Cody? Gone! No more!”

“Problem is, you can’t take that back. We both heard you say what you said about him, and there’s no making us forget it.” That was what Bridgette thought, but cue Geoff asking what, exactly, Sierra had said that wasn’t the weird plane fantasy, and she realized that he probably had already forgotten what had made her want to kick Sierra out in the first place. “Okay, I remember what you said, and I’m not forgetting it. If I get the chance to tell either of his friends about your little plan, you’re going to regret ever letting me know.”

“So okay, that means that maybe I should go and not tell you what I know about where they are, so that my secret’s safe and you can go on living your life without seeing them. Got it.” She stood up and headed for the door, and right as she was about to leave, she turned around and made one more plea: “But you know you want them there at the reunion. It’s not going to be any fun if either of them aren’t there, especially since Cody’s already made it a point to keep them separated at all costs, and that would mean that your reunion would be the first time in a long time that they’d see each other and—“

“Goodbye, Sierra,” they said in unison, cutting her off and giving her that last push to leave the house, grabbing her jackets and leaving without them on. Once she was truly gone, not just standing out front and staring in the front window, they felt comfortable enough to talk about what had just unfolded in their living room. They spent more time dwelling on the odd encounter they had endured with Sierra than they actually had with her present, something that Bridgette actually remarked on later, once they were on their way to go live for the latest installment of Gidgette Weekly.

And they made absolute sure to keep Sierra’s secret under wraps, because outing someone through the use of the media was not anything they had any interest in doing. They hoped that, wherever she ended up after that morning, Sierra was listening and appreciative of what lengths they took to avoid mentioning anything about what she was doing.


	6. She Fights The Law

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff suggests to Bridgette that maybe they should go see her dear friend Courtney. Little does he know that it may just be the worst idea he's ever come up with--and that's after him having let Sierra into the house. What sorts of trouble can a law-abiding woman even cause?

Within days of the incident with Sierra, both Geoff and Bridgette started to regret not getting some sort of useful information out of her, because the fact that she knew where certain people were while they didn’t was too big to ignore. There was the problem that taking that information would have been slightly rewarding to Sierra and her insane plan to get rid of the two ladies in question, and that problem was what, in the end, made them feel better about not getting anything from her.

The problem still remained that they couldn’t access either of those people, but that was okay. It was better to not see them and invite them than it was to reward insanity. However, it was not okay that they didn’t know where to go next, or who to talk to, or anything of that sort, and just accepting Sierra’s help would have solved that problem for them instantly. “I guess we just see who ends up at our door next, huh?” Bridgette asked, taking a sarcastic tone as she did. “Maybe she’ll send one of them out here to us.”

“No thank you, don’t want anyone else coming into our place and causing a scene. Pretty sure the carpet still has her tears and footprints on it.” There was a long pause before Geoff said anything else, during which he and Bridgette shared a look that made him realize that whatever he had just said made no logical sense. “Okay, okay, uh, maybe having someone come visit that isn’t her would be cool!”

“That’s the spirit, but I doubt it’s going to happen. I think we made Sierra want to not help us even a little bit, which is fine and all, but it would be nice to get to talk to either of those ladies to get them in on this.” She sighed. “And I don’t know anyone else who would know where they are. Well, except Cody, but we saw how well trying to get him involved worked. That’s how we ended up with Sierra.”

He nodded, agreeing with her. “Note to us, no sending Cody anything that we don’t want her to see. The dude’s cool and all, but not when he’s got a stalker girlfriend who isn’t really his girlfriend around. Makes me glad you love me and I love you and we’re not like that.”

“Okay then. Love you too, but that doesn’t answer what we should do now, like, at all. Unless someone does end up at our door, but we know that’s not going to happen.” She frowned a bit, thinking on what to do. “Maybe it’s time we go visit someone ourselves again.”

“Maybe! It’s about time we take a little vacay, don’t you think?” They looked at each other again, and this time he waggled his eyebrows a bit seductively, except the goofy grin on his face ruined whatever powers of seduction he was trying to use. “I know exactly where we should go if that’s the case. Somewhere you love going.”

Her frown disappeared and was replaced with an almost equally goofy grin. “The beach?”

“No way, Bridge! Somewhere better, somewhere we don’t go nearly enough!” After being reminded that they hardly ever visited the beach and handwaving it off, he told her his great idea: “We should go visit your gal pal Courtney! It’s been a long while since we last saw her, yeah? She’s probably gotten so much better at all that law stuff she likes and maybe she would be down for what we’ve got going and it would just be fun! You like this plan?”

“Like it?” The grin had faded but it didn’t mean that Bridgette wasn’t at least a bit excited for what had just been suggested. “Sitting somewhere with Courtney and listening to her talk about law school and stuff isn’t as fun as surfing the waves would be, but it’s better than listening to someone talk about things that hurt others, so I say let’s do it! Way to go, coming up with that, Geoff!” To finish, she planted a long kiss right on his lips, running her fingers through the ends of his hair as she did. When they broke apart, he was visibly shocked by her display of affection and she laughed. “Now why don’t you come up with how we manage to do this, huh?”

“Depends, you gonna kiss me again like that if I do?” The look he got after asking that told him that yes, she certainly would kiss him like that if he did, and it was inspirational enough to get him to come up with a plan to go see Courtney, complete with actually warning her that they were coming, within a day; alas, it wasn’t until the next month that they actually made the visit, but planning it was good enough to get his reward.

* * *

Due to some sort of weird rules that never were really explained, their meeting couldn’t take place in the little office that Courtney was working out of. “My boss would prefer if I only interact with my clients in there, and since you are friends and not clients, I guess this coffee shop is where we’re going to have to talk today.” It was really all they got out of her on the matter, but it was okay because she promised that she’d pay for whatever drinks they got to make up for the inconvenience. “I know you were probably very interested in where I work, but today is not the day for you to know about that.”

“It’s okay, at least here we’ll be able to talk about things that aren’t boring law stuff, and it won’t be weird.” Bridgette smiled at her friend, who gave her a straight-lipped look in return. “Okay, what’s up? Normally you laugh when I talk about how boring what you do is, and you don’t look like you’re going to laugh.”

“You’re right, I’m not going to laugh. There’s a lot on my mind right now, involving my client and his case and whatnot. But it’s things I am not at liberty to discuss with anyone aside from him, so I guess I should focus more on being with you guys instead of all that drama.” She shrugged, before slamming her hands on the table before them. “So okay, what brings you guys out to my little corner of nowhere?”

At the same time that Bridgette tried to sugarcoat things and say that it was just wanting to see a good friend, Geoff had to start explaining the truth. “We need to get people involved in a reunion thing and you’re totally one of the people who need to be there!” he exclaimed, completely drowning out his girlfriend and her answer of, “Just to see you and get to hang with you again.”

“Uh huh, which one of you am I going to believe here? Certainly not the one who is reinforcing something that had found its way into my mailbox back home that I saw last time I was there.” She winked, and that was when the two learned that the address they had found for Courtney wasn’t the one for this area, but rather the one she had used back when she was still going to law school—as in, the last time they had been the ones to plan the visit. “But I’m not mad that someone here just tried to lie to me, because I know, I know, I’m the one who started the whole ‘suing Chris’ thing, so why would I want to know about a reunion for the show he wrongfully made me lose?”

“You mean you’re not bitter about that part?”

“Of course I’m bitter about that part, Bridgette! I could have won money to pay for law school if I hadn’t been booted like I was!” She took a few deep breaths to keep herself from losing her calm. “But no, I’m not going to be mad about knowing about the reunion. In fact, as long as that devil McLean isn’t there, I would love to be a guest at it, provided that it works around my busy schedule.”

“He’s not going to be there, don’t worry. That’s why we’re the ones in charge of it.” Bridgette looked to Geoff, who was looking at the barista at the counter, and after she slammed her foot down on his to get his attention back to the conversation, she continued to speak. “He said like half of the old contestants have restraining orders against him, so he can’t come, no matter how badly he wants to be there.”

Courtney gave a small gasp in surprise at what she had just heard, but it wasn’t the part about Chris wanting to be present that got her metaphorical goat. “You mean, other people followed in _my_ footsteps and did that? Ugh! That’s like, so wrong! I am going to find out who did that and sue them for copying me!”

“You, uh, really like the idea of suing people, huh?” Geoff asked, trying to actively become part of the conversation to try and not focus on the person working the coffee machines. “That’s cool, but maybe you shouldn’t do that so much. Might make people not like you.”

“Nonsense, everyone likes me just fine! I’m not going to press charges or anything about this little revelation here, but if I find out that anyone at the reunion did what I did…there will be trouble for them. I guarantee it.” She shook her head, fury in her eyes. “No one copies me and gets away with it!”

“Um, Courtney, that’s taking it a bit too far, don’t you think?” Bridgette was well aware that she was close friends with someone who was slightly unhinged, but she was taken aback by how unreasonable she was being about this. “Everyone’s allowed to make their own decisions, and maybe that means that others get law papers that say Chris can’t be around them. Not everyone had a pleasant experience with him, you know.”

“Yes, but you’re forgetting that everyone else had a fair chance at winning, but mine got unlawfully taken from me! They have no reason to want him away from them, but I do!” She hit the table again, startling Geoff, who had started to look over at the barista again. “Thank you for informing me that I’ve got copycats, and I am going to deal with them swiftly and justly.”

“Maybe you should just let them be. After all, them getting the law involved against him doesn’t affect you in any way, right?” It took a bit more convincing to get Courtney to retract her statements about wanting to punish everyone who had taken the same actions as her, but once she admitted that she was going too far with things, it gave Bridgette a bit of peace of mind knowing that she wasn’t going to get others in trouble. But it also gave her the chance to look at Geoff and see him once again looking back at the counter. “Um, Geoff? What’s got your attention?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he replied, turning back to smile in his girlfriend’s direction. “Just thought I recognized someone, that’s all. No biggie.”

She gave him a smile in return. “No problems then?”

“None at all. ‘Cept that I can’t tell if I know the dude, but it’s kinda rude to go up to someone and ask them if they’re someone else, especially if it’s not them.” He looked back over at the counter, where on the other side the male barista stood. “Just wish I could tell if that was him or not.”

“If that was who?” Bridgette craned her neck to look for herself, but from her vantage point, all she got was a view of the counter and the top of a green hat. “Can’t see him from here, sweetie. Can you be more specific?”

He shook his head. “Nah, don’t want to get your hopes up if it isn’t him.”

“Courtney, do you know of anyone we’d know that lives around here?” Rather than pressing the issue further with Geoff, she tried to see if the other person present would be of any help. “Like, anyone who would work here?”

“I don’t associate myself with commoners, so no. I only interact with people who would be interested in my law services, like, for instance, someone who is looking for a legal and sneaky way to get back into someone else’s life.” She sounded snooty as she said that, and it took a second before Bridgette realized where, exactly, that was leading. “While I normally wouldn’t condone such behavior, you have to admit that getting to rifle through someone’s spending history to see what she’s up to is somewhat liberating, especially on the off chance that I uncover something that would make her less appealing.”

“Please tell me you’re just fantasizing.” Grabbing her head and shaking it slightly, Bridgette tried not to believe what she was hearing. “Because I’ve heard someone else talking about getting two people back together, because one side wants it, and if you are talking about the same couple she was…”

“Let me guess, it was Sierra who told you.” The silence she got in response gave Courtney the answer that it was indeed. “She can’t keep her loud mouth closed about anything. If I wasn’t checking all her blogs regularly I would assume she would have posted about it on there too. But no matter, she told someone I trust and I know you’re not going to tell anyone else about that.” She looked at Bridgette, who was still giving little shakes of the head in her friend’s direction. “Especially since I know how you feel about one of the people involved.”

“So you’re in on her insanity? I can’t believe it. I thought you had some sense!” She stood up, still clutching the sides of her head. “You’re helping out a guy who manipulated us both out of a million dollars!”

“Yes, and? Things change. My lawsuits against Chris got me much more than that, and once my law career is off and running, I will be making more money than I ever would have from that show. And do you know how I’m going to get my career started?” She looked beckoningly at Bridgette, who sighed, dropped her hands, and asked how she would do such a thing. “I need to successfully get one case all taken care of. One. And my case of choice, when it gets to the point that binding documents are needed, is the one that revolves around managing to hook Heather back up with Alejandro.”

Bridgette lost her composure then, her shaking reaching a maximum point, and she screamed. “Don’t mention that man around me!” was all she got out before she devolved into a bunch of loud groans of anger and frustration, eventually storming away and leaving the building to cool down.

“I wonder what her problem was,” Courtney said in a questioning tone, looking at Geoff who seemed to not have been paying attention to anything that had just occurred, even though everyone else in the café had. “Wait, what’s your problem? Don’t tell me you’re going to freak out on me too.”

“No way, just thinking about that guy. I think his name’s Tyler.” For anyone to believe that Geoff was correct would be insane, and Geoff himself had a hard time believing that he could be right, but after letting the name pass through his lips he thought that maybe, just maybe, going up and asking the guy himself wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” he said, standing up, “I’ve got to go see if I’m right.”

“Find your girlfriend while you’re gone, will you? She stormed out of here and I’m not going to waste my time sitting here when I have better things I could be doing.” Her words were largely ignored, because Geoff was determined in his mission to see if the barista was indeed who he thought he was, and so she sat at the table in the corner and just watched as the man she had been in the company of made his way to the counter and started idly chit-chatting with the guy behind it.

Three interruptions later, all of which were people wanting to order drinks, and it was time for the big question to be asked—or, anyway, that was the plan, until Geoff saw that the guy was wearing a nametag. Now, up to that point, he figured that his suspicion was right and that this was the guy he thought he was, but after seeing the nametag with the name Peter written on it, he learned that he was wrong. “Uh, sorry to break from this fun convo we’ve got going on, but I think I’ve gotta go. Sorry, bro.” It was all he could think to say to make things less awkward than they were now that he knew this wasn’t the guy he thought it was. Besides, he still had to find Bridgette and get her back in the café from her little outburst. “It’s been nice chatting with you.”

“No way, man, it’s been nice chatting with you! Didn’t know anyone from the Total Drama crowd would want to actually talk to me, heh.” The guy gave a sad-sounding laugh, before turning to clean one of the machines. “No one ever thinks, hey, maybe that’s one of my old friends. They just think I’m a nobody.”

“You mean, you’re not a nobody?” There was surprise in Geoff’s voice, because already his heart had been set on the fact that this wasn’t who he thought it was. “But there wasn’t a Peter on the show. At least, I don’t remember there being one.”

The guy looked confused for a second, before Geoff motioned towards his nametag, and that was when it clicked. “Oh! My name’s not Peter, this is just the only nametag we had stashed back here. For a second I thought that you were doing the thing everyone does with calling me the wrong name, but no, you’re just reading my tag.” He grinned. “I’m Tyler, bro!”

“You are?” He nodded, and the blond man jumped up in excitement, thrusting a fist into the air. “You are! I knew it!”

“Yeah dude, who else would I be?” Tyler grabbed a rag and set it on top of the counter, before using it to wipe around a bit. “Well, besides a washed-up reality star, I guess.”

“Washed-up? So you got a day job. Everyone’s got one! Me and Bridge, we do the radio thing. I guess Courtney does law stuff. You gotta make bank somehow, yeah?” Geoff was trying to be positive, but really, how was he supposed to make working the counter at a café sound positive? “Besides, this place seems nice enough.”

A head of shaggy brown hair shook sadly in response. “No way, this is the worst place ever. But where am I supposed to go? Big cities? Nope, can’t show my face around those. Small towns? No one does anything in those, they’d all know what I did to earn this job!” He threw the rag aside when he was done wiping the counter, and looked straight at Geoff’s face. “I can’t go back to fame, dude. Like I said, washed-up.”

“I don’t think I’m following you, bro. I didn’t hear anything that would make you bad or anything, so I think you’re just pulling my leg. This is a good day job and you’re killing it.” He smiled, but Tyler frowned in response. “Okay, maybe you aren’t killing it. What’s the prob?”

“The problem is that I made a fool out of myself and now I’m, like, banished from the reality TV circuit. Or something like that. ‘s what Linds told me last time I talked to her.” He gave a wistful sigh, propping his head up on his hand, his elbow resting on the counter he had just cleaned. “It’s so bad, she doesn’t talk to me anymore, and it’s not because she doesn’t remember my name!”

“Wow, then it must be bad. But are we talking embarrassing bad, or dumb bad, because I’ve done the first one. Wore pajama pants on the red carpet. She called me out on it.” Geoff dwelled on that memory for a second, before a hand touching his shoulder snapped him back into reality; he looked to Tyler, but neither of his hands were on Geoff’s side of the counter, and the hand was a bit too tanned to be his anyway.

“Excuse me, but I think I said get your girlfriend, not spend all day talking to the worker here while I waste my precious time!” Courtney’s shrill voice was right in Geoff’s ear, and it took a lot out of him to not say something mean to her about how rude she was. Instead, he sighed, gave a small wave of farewell to Tyler, and walked out the café, leaving her alone with the man she didn’t know was anyone important to her. “Now that he’s gone, I’d like to order.”

Tyler straightened up, looking professional again. “You could have said that without getting Geoff to leave. He was actually being nice to me.”

“You aren’t getting paid to have people be nice to you, you’re being paid to make me coffee.” She looked up at the menu, trying to decide what she wanted, but just because her attention was on something else didn’t mean that she couldn’t still be rude to Tyler. “Besides, Geoff is nice to everyone, even those who don’t deserve it, like you. In fact, because you decided to snap at me for getting him to leave, I think I want to file a complaint with your manager, and maybe sue the place for wrongful treatment of customers. I wonder how much I could get if I edit some pictures to make it look like you hurt me…”

“That’s not fair! I didn’t do anything wrong except say that you could have let Geoff stay and placed your order at the same time.” He gave a deep sigh, as Courtney began to list off her exact drink request, with specifics and all. Once she was done and he had repeated it back to her, he tried to get through to her with who he was, all while making her drink. “Don’t you recognize me? We were on the same team in Total Drama Island!”

Courtney blinked a few times, leaning to see him a bit better, but shook her head as if she really didn’t recognize him. “Sorry, don’t remember you. And don’t talk to me about that show, I have placed many lawsuits against it and unless you mention it to me in a specific way, you can get in trouble for talking about it. You don’t really want to add to the list of complaints I have about you, do you?”

“No, I don’t.” It was the last thing he said until he finished making her drink, when he then asked for her to pay for it and she refused. “I don’t think you’re allowed to refuse to pay. Pretty sure I can’t give you your drink without money.”

“I want to speak to your manager then. Right now. Think you can give me terrible service and get away with it, do you?” She actually leaned across the counter and grabbed the drink from him, but as he hadn’t put the lid on it completely it sloshed everywhere, the hot coffee hitting both of their hands. In response, she yelled, while he completely threw the cup and made the mess worse, the coffee now going everywhere on him and her both. Her screams just got louder, earning the attention of every person in the café, plus the workers who were behind the scenes, and then, most importantly, Geoff and Bridgette, who were returning from outside at that very moment.

“What’s going on in here?” they both asked, and while Bridgette just stood by the door and watched the scene before her, Geoff ran up to the counter and started shaking Courtney, who was going on and on about how she was going to sue the place until it closed. “Dude, what are you doing? Why are you being like this to Tyler?”

She was drenched in coffee, the aroma of all the flavors and the coffee beans coming off of her, and she was in too much of a tizzy to answer him. Tyler, however, was using that rag from before to clean himself off and could easily answer: “She doesn’t know it’s me, man. No one ever does.”

“Why are you being buddy-buddy with the worker who maimed me with coffee?” Courtney had calmed down enough to let her voice be heard, although it had screams all throughout it. “Geoff, stop being a nice guy to everyone and actually care about your friend!”

He looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “You’re both my friends, and I can’t care about you more than him when I’m pretty sure all you’ve done is be mean to him.” As he let go of her and walked back over to where Bridgette was still standing in shock and confusion, he could hear Courtney screaming that he needed to go back over to her and fix things. “No way, you’re too bossy and mean and don’t deserve my help.”

“Are you going to explain what’s going on?” Bridgette asked him when he came back to her. “Or am I going to have to go fix things to find out what happened?”

He gave a handwave in the direction of the mess. “I’ll explain it to you later, babe. Let’s just go before your best friend there wants to punish me for something I didn’t do.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and rested his head on hers, smiling as he did. “She’s a real mood-killer and I don’t want to be here anymore.”

The last thing they heard was Courtney actually cursing in their direction about how she would make someone pay for what had happened, be it one of them or someone still present. It would have been perfectly fine if that had been the end to their not so amazing adventure in that town, but there were other plans, ones that directly involved someone who had been there for the entire incident. It had been a phone call, one from a number that Geoff’s phone had called before but didn’t have saved, asking to meet him out at a little shop on the edge of town that evening, and even though it was a bit mysterious and fishy that such an event would happen the same day he may had sort of angered Courtney, he decided to go through with what was being asked of him.

The shop was closed by the time he got there, which must have been part of the plan, because sitting out front, both hands bandaged up, was Tyler. “Hey, you actually came!” he exclaimed, motioning for Geoff to sit down next to him, which he naturally did. “Figured you’d worry I was gonna bust you or something for what happened earlier. Not your fault at all, by the way.”

“Man, sorry about that,” Geoff said in an apologetic tone. “It was all my idea to come out here to see her, and so I guess that means it’s kinda my fault you got hurt.”

“Happens all the time! Or, at least, it used to happen all the time when I was doing something interesting with my life.” He sounded a bit sad as he said that, and he banged both bandages together, wincing as he did. “Yep, this is something I’m totally used to.”

“You aren’t sounding too chill with what’s happened to you, dude. Do you need a listening ear to talk at, because I am down for listening to your story if you want.” The offer was well-received, and thus began Tyler recounting everything that had gone wrong in his life over the past year or so, starting with the time he completely forgot to put on pants before going on camera on whatever show he was competing in at the time, and he accidentally flashed his manhood to the world. That got him kicked off of that show, and all of his later appearances on other shows to be canceled, plus it made Lindsay unable to be around him because of her own show that she was almost always filming. So it had caused their relationship to crumble—not like it had been very strong to begin with—and it had left the poor guy out on his own, having to do menial jobs to get by, just because he wasn’t really good at anything.

“To top it all off, I’m not even able to play sports anymore. Any time I play anything, there’s always someone there asking if I’m gonna flash them, and I just can’t focus on the game when someone wants to see me naked.” Tyler gave a long sigh, leaning over and letting his shaggy hair cover his face. “Now I’ve got no job, again, and I’m just in the worst place ever. Bet everyone else from back in the day has gone places.”

Geoff thought for a second about where everyone else was, before shrugging. “Not really, yo. Just a few of us have done anything with our lives, and really that’s just me and Bridge and Lindsay and I guess Courtney. Except you know as well as I do that Courtney probably has let that whole law thing get to her head. She’s crazy.”

“She cost me my job, dude.”

“She did, and you know what? I think that means maybe it’s time you get out of this funk and come with us and get your fame back!” Geoff nudged Tyler in the ribs a few times, expecting to get a cheerful reply, but all he got was another long sigh. “You don’t like that idea?”

“It won’t work. Someone out there thinks I’m not good for TV and wanted me out when I flashed the world on accident. If you want to reclaim my name for me, cool! Awesome! But I’m not going. I’m staying boring old lame Tyler, not the famous one.” The amount of dejection in his voice made Geoff truly feel bad for this guy, but not just because of the way he had lost his fame. He felt bad that Tyler had lost the woman he loved due to everything that happened when he forgot his pants, and then it hit him: Lindsay was famous, she was a judge on a show, and she had talked to him on the red carpet at the Gemmies. If he could manage to find her and talk to her about this, maybe he could do some romance rebuilding.

Later that night when he got back to the hotel room and saw Bridgette waiting for him, he had to tell her his plan. She wasn’t so enthusiastic about it, saying something along the lines of “we shouldn’t get ourselves involved in fixing others’ problems,” but she did like the idea of taking a trip out to go see Lindsay. After all, she had been skipped over in favor of the man in the puppy pajama pants at the Gemmies, and there needed to be time to work her magic in getting the famous judge to come to the reunion.

It was just a matter of finding when the best time to make this trip would be.


	7. Fashion Bites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff finally makes good on that offer from back on the red carpet, and becomes a guest judge on the fashion reality show that Lindsay's a part of. But things just can't be that simple.

“You mean you both want to be guest judges on Clothing Bug? That’s so exciting, but we only do one guest a week, and I think that only one of you is cool enough for it anyway.” It was a long story on how they had ended up at the door to Lindsay’s dressing room, but the most important part was that they had used their fame from their radio show to get themselves in and were standing face-to-face with this beautiful and completely famous woman. “So, like, if you’re serious about this, I’m pretty sure I could get Greg here on the show next week.”

“His name is Geoff,” Bridgette corrected, doing what he never would attempt to do, “and okay. Next week. Which means what for me?”

Lindsay tossed her long hair over her shoulder before tilting her head to the side. “I don’t know, you’re not the interesting one here.”

“Hey! My babe is the most interesting woman ever!” Taking offense on her behalf, it was Geoff’s way of paying her back for correcting his name. “Or, at least, she’s one of the most interesting. Maybe top five.”

He tried to defend her honor, even though he failed, but trying was what mattered to her. “Not like I really care what you think I should do, Lindsay. As long as one of us get to deal with you, that’s what matters. I’m not really into the whole fashion scene, anyway.”

“You should work on getting into it, because let me tell you, wearing a hoodie in a place like this, while totally comfortable, makes you look like you’re not supposed to be here.” Lindsay smiled at Bridgette, tilting her head further. “And you should get better at taking care of your hair, because the ends look dead from here and I’m kinda far from where you are!”

Bridgette’s reaction was to grab Geoff’s arm and start walking away, pulling him with her as Lindsay stood at her door, still yelling out things that were wrong with her appearance even as she was walking away. Once they were out of view of the dressing room, she let go of him and shook her head in a bit of anger. “I can’t believe she said all that. I look fine, don’t I?”

“’Course you do, babe. You’re like the hottest woman I know, and I know a lot of women.” That would have been a fine stopping point for his sentence, but he had to keep going and dig himself into a hole. “But maybe Lindsay was right. A hoodie doesn’t exactly flatter your curves, so maybe you should wear what she wears! Did you see how great she looked?” The narrowed eyes being aimed at him told him that maybe he should stop talking, but Geoff wasn’t one for picking up on subtle visual cues. “Imagine if you could look like that. It would be like the greatest thing ever!”

“I suggest you shut your mouth now before I decide to leave you here and let you go back to who you _really_ think is the hottest woman you know.” She spat those last few words almost like they were painful to say, and it got her point across, because she didn’t hear anything more about Lindsay and how she looked until much later, when she was calling Geoff to arrange when to get him to come to the studio for the taping of her show. Naturally, she completely left out any mention of Bridgette, and, on top of that, she referred to Geoff by the wrong name. Twice. By the time the call was over, there were some loose plans that were to be followed, and there was still nothing for Bridgette to be doing during all of that time, something that bothered her more than referring to anyone by the wrong name ever could.

She may not have been invited to go along, but it sure wasn’t going to stop her from going anyway, just to keep tabs on Geoff. After all, he was never the best at keeping fame from going straight to his head, and while having his own radio show had helped with that problem somewhat, he was still pretty prone to getting an inflated ego, which she needed to be there to stop. A gloating and rude Geoff was not a fun one to be around. This, of course, led to another confrontation on the set of Clothing Bug, one of those shows that had contestants make their own clothing and have it modeled for the judges, but what was one little fight when it came to keeping her boyfriend modest?

It was a lot, that was what. And with that one little fight, Bridgette had herself relegated to the backroom of the set for the duration of the episode’s filming, her goals and desires completely ignored. Whatever was going to happen to Geoff out there was going to happen without her watching. “This is so stupid,” she muttered under her breath, flopping into a director-style chair where she expected to stay the entire time. “What kind of person does she think she is, separating me and Geoff like this?”

“Are you talking about Lindsay? Nice lady, mean when it comes to who she wants on the show. You’d think she’s sleeping with the creator or something.” The voice was one that felt very familiar to Bridgette, but she couldn’t place where she had heard it before, and she couldn’t see who was speaking so she had no way of trying to place a face to the voice. “Not that she is, but she gets her way and it’s not fair to all of us.”

“She’s only wanted Geoff to be on this show and she’s gone so far as to ignore me being around to get that way!” She huffed, rocking herself back and forth in the chair a bit to try and calm down. “I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s nothing to worry about, but what if they’ve got something going on behind my back that I don’t know about? What if he’s going to leave me for her? I know he thinks she’s prettier than me, so…”

“Hey, don’t get so hard on yourself.” By the way the voice sounded so soft, she figured that whoever it was, they were talking to her from the other side of the rack of clothing she was sitting next to. “I think you’re pretty. Could use some work when it comes to hair and makeup, but you’re still pretty.”

Her cheeks began to light up at the compliment, but as she rocked the chair more and more she realized that she shouldn’t be so happy about a compliment that backhandedly judged her personal choices. “Wait a minute, I don’t need any work. I was always taught that natural was the best way to go, and some stranger in a dressing area can’t talk his way into making me change my mind.”

“Stranger? Oh, I guess you haven’t seen me, have you?” There was a bit of rustling on the other side of the rack, as whoever was speaking got up and made their way to her side of things, and once they, or rather, he had cleared the rack and was standing before Bridgette, the shock and surprise of who it was made her lose focus on just gently rocking the chair. She tumbled backwards as the chair did, almost hitting her head on another rack in the process, but she was greeted almost immediately with a friendly hand, one that she accepted instantly. “Looks like I’m not a stranger after all, am I?” the man asked once Bridgette was back to her feet. “And if you’re still worrying about how you’re going to keep an eye on that boyfriend of yours, I think I have a plan.”

* * *

“What does a guest judge do?” After being briefed on the way the show worked, Geoff was really only curious about what his job for the day was. “Like, am I supposed to be looking at people and judge them by how they act? I’m pretty good at telling if someone’s going to be a good friend or not.”

“Why would you have to do that on a fashion show?” Lindsay looked at him with a confused look upon her face, before shaking her head to try and refocus on what she had been saying. “All you’ve gotta do is agree with me and who I pick is the best!”

For a second, it seemed like Geoff was going to accept what he had just been told as the truth, but it hit him that what she had just said was rather shady, and he had to make a comment on it. “But that’s not fair, is it? What if you’re playing favorites? Am I supposed to play favorites too?”

“Of course you are! This show isn’t meant for the best person to win, it’s meant for who I like most to win!” She clapped a few times, excited to be telling Geoff one of the inside secrets to her judging. “Why else do you think that I’m the only original judge left on this show? It doesn’t take a genius to realize that I’m always right. How did you think I got you the guest judge position this week? By actually asking?”

He took a second to think about answering that, because even though he wasn’t the brightest, there was a strong sense of right and wrong inside of Geoff, and this was definitely getting into the wrong part of his morality. “Uh, yeah, actually, you’re supposed to ask to do things like this. I can’t just be like, ‘hey, come be on my show’ because otherwise Bridge gets mad and you don’t want to see her mad.”

“I don’t have someone like her around to stop me, and it’s just getting the cute guys what they deserve. So maybe they are, um, fashionally challenged, but that’s okay, because who cares what they’re making people wear if they’re hot!” Instead of clapping, Lindsay threw her hands into the air in her excitement. “That’s what makes me so mad about this season. Apparently someone out there thinks I care about who I met back on that totally dumb island, because one of those guys is on the show and I just can’t get behind his fashions. Too male model-y.” Her hands fell to her sides, and she propped them both on her hips, sticking her chest forward to get Geoff’s attention. “So I need you to get rid of him with me tonight, please and thank you.”

If his eyes noticeably popped out of his head after hearing that, he wasn’t sure, but Geoff did know that he was hearing someone who was once so sweet being absolutely ruthless when it came to her show. “Not so fast, Lindsay,” he said, backing away from her a bit. “Can’t go and cheat just to make you happy.”

“It’s not cheating if no one catches you! Besides, he’s like the worst one left, and he needs to go. Not picking him wouldn’t really be cheating. We’d all understand.” He still was backing away as she stepped closer to him, trying to use her chest as a tool to get him on her side. “So just say you’re gonna do it and then we can talk about what you’re gonna wear! Trust me with that decision, okay? Last time I saw you, you were wearing pajama pants on the red carpet and those kinds of things just don’t work around here.”

“Dude, I don’t think I want to be part of this, if you’re gonna be trying to get me to play dirty. I like taking things fairly, and this is not fair to whoever the guy is you want gone.” She still stepped closer, eventually getting close enough that her chest was pressing into him. “Get away from me, please, can’t do this, can’t be seen with you all up on me.”

“Come on, Greg, just do this for me. Friends, right?” Lindsay batted her eyelashes, something almost irresistible, and Geoff would have fallen for it if it weren’t for two things. One of those things was Bridgette, and how loyal he was to her; without her by his side, he wouldn’t be anywhere close to where he was at that moment, and he couldn’t betray her in the smallest of sexual situations.

The other thing was something that hadn’t even bothered him up until that point, where everything she was doing was getting to be too much. “My name is Geoff, okay? Geoff! Not Greg or Gary or anything else! G-E-O-F-F!” With every letter, he drew it out in the air before him, right in Lindsay’s face, but she didn’t seem to notice it. “Man, this must be just like how Tyler felt when you forgot who he was all the time!”

“Tyler?” He could see gears trying to turn for her, with little success. “He’s gone. We don’t talk about him around here, not after what he did.”

“Because he accidentally flashed the world? Pretty sure others do a lot worse than that and get away with it, so he shouldn’t be treated like this!” A sentence with no slang or any sort of his natural linguistic tendencies wasn’t something that happened often with Geoff, but when it did happen, it meant that he was getting very serious. And why shouldn’t he be getting serious, when he knew how badly this whole “taboo” thing against Tyler was getting him down? “So maybe he should’ve been wearing pants, but you know what? He doesn’t deserve to be hated by, like, everyone because of a dumb mistake!”

“No, he does. Do you know how bad things got for me because of what he did? They were going to replace me on the show! I can’t let myself be around someone who almost cost me the best thing to ever happen to me, ever! This job gets me in Star Stalker magazine every week, and before this, I was only in it almost never!” She stepped back from him just a bit, realizing that maybe she was a bit too close to begin with, but then she kept talking. “But since he’s not around, everyone thinks I’m, like, lonely or something, and I am, but I can’t say I am, because Tyler isn’t allowed anymore.”

Geoff put his hands in front of him in frustration, before clinging to his own face and pulling down. “Who says Tyler isn’t allowed?” he asked, hoping that whatever answer he got would give him something to work with.

“Everyone does! Haven’t you read about in in the magazines? I mean, the issue of Star Stalker with me and him on the cover got changed to just me because of it!”

He shouldn’t have expected Lindsay to react with logic; after all, this _was_ Lindsay, who had made a name for herself being a completely gullible idiot, and while it did seem a bit wrong for Geoff to think such a thing about anyone, especially with his own lack of intelligence, it was the honest truth. “Well, think of it this way, okay? Me and Bridge never heard about all of this until we saw Tyler, and we’re on radio. We know things.”

“You saw Tyler? Is he okay?” Dropping any sense of that silly taboo she had been perpetuating, Lindsay sounded genuinely concerned about the state of her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, or whatever she was going to refer to him as. When Geoff told her the story as he knew it, making sure to include everything that had gone down in that café as why his life was pretty much terrible, even if he was okay for the most part, she started to act even more worried for him. “Oh, maybe I should call him or something, see if he’s still dating me, because I miss him. And if it’s not really that big of a deal about what happened to him…”

“Your reputation wouldn’t take a hit from being with him, don’t worry. Not like it did after that one show you were in.” Now, Geoff wasn’t exactly bright and he knew it, but if there was a skill he had gained through his activities on the radio and on the red carpet, it was that he had a knack for remembering bits of news stories until they became relevant again, and one such thing he did remember was the ill-fated foray into actual acting that Lindsay had made, where she had been on a soap opera for a grand total of one episode. Her face turned pale white when he brought up being in that show, and he knew that he had made some sort of point. “Yeah, like, imagine if someone brought up that show when they saw you and Tyler together. Don’t you think that would be worse?”

“Oh, definitely! I couldn’t show my face for weeks after that! How was I supposed to know that I was supposed to memorize my lines _and_ act at the same time? On here, I get a screen that tells me what to say when I’m not coming up with it myself!” Lindsay looked like she was about to cry, the color returning to her face slowly. “So when are you going to let me know where Tyler is?”

He shrugged. “Depends on how this show goes, I guess. Gotta make sure you deserve the dude back, y’know.”

“I guess you’re right, but let me tell you, if you don’t vote with me and get Justin off this show, I’m not going to want to know where he is.” Now it was Geoff’s turn to turn pale, except he really didn’t, he just froze in place instead. “Have fun, Greg, and we’ll talk again soon, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, watching Lindsay finally back away enough to give him his space, where he wanted to just collapse. What was he supposed to do? Siding with her was going to end up making Tyler happy, but not would mean they’d both be alone still. “What’s a dude gonna do?” he asked out loud, before freezing again. “Wait a second, did she say what I think she said? Oh man I’ve gotta tell Bridge this!”

* * *

Bridgette was already well aware of what Geoff wanted her to know, because it had been the incredibly attractive and slightly devious Justin who had found her back in the dressing area, who had been so kind to her when talking across the clothing. She was also very aware of Lindsay’s plan, because he knew of it and was trying his hardest to fight it to stay in the competition until the end. “You know, when they said they wanted me on Clothing Bug as a designer, I thought they were crazy. A model, doing the designing? That never happens! But now that I’ve dabbled in it and actually gotten good at making clothing, I’ve decided that if my modeling career fizzles out, I’ve got a great second job out there.” He had found another chair similar to the one Bridgette had been sitting in and had pulled it to next to hers, so that he could sit with her and talk. “But that’s not really anything to do with that plan I told you, now is it?”

“Not really, no,” she replied, still thinking on what he had suggested to her as a way to keep tabs on Geoff during the show. “Except yes at the same time. Didn’t you have to make your clothing for tonight’s show already? How am I supposed to model whatever you’ve got if you didn’t make it for me?”

“Listen, sweetie, do you really think models have clothing made for them all the time?” He motioned to the racks of clothes that surrounded them. “Unless you’re lucky, you get to pick from the racks and deal with whatever you find. Doesn’t matter if it fits you or not. Gives the media things to talk about.”

She reached out to touch a few of the dresses on the rack closest to her, each one of a different material that felt odd underneath her fingers. “This is why I do my own designing for when I’m on the red carpet, I think. I like knowing that my dresses are made of natural materials and not whatever these are made of.”

“Snakeskin.” It was just one word that came from his lips, but it was enough to make Bridgette scream and bring her hand back to her lap. “Sorry, but you asked. It’s not an easy thing to work with, but lots of people like it. You wouldn’t look good in it though. Good thing my outfit for you is made of less animal skin and more plant material. This week’s challenge was to make something out of something not typically seen on models, and I happened to pick something I think you’d like.”

“So you knew this was going to happen then?”

“The way Lindsay wouldn’t shut up about Geoff being the guest judge this week, yes, I knew, and I knew I was going to try and get you to model for me.” He closed his eyes and laughed, and she took that moment to look and see how happy Justin seemed with doing this. “You know, I can feel your eyes on me.”

“You can?” She diverted her gaze as he looked at her, smiling as he did. She heard him give a faint noise in approval to answer her question, which lead to a follow-up one. “Did modeling teach you that trick? I never know if someone’s looking at me or not.”

“It’s just something I’ve learned from being as attractive as I am. You know how many times I close my eyes for a second and open them up to have everyone in the room staring at me, wanting me to disrobe for them? It happens all the time, no numbers needed.” He started to pull his shirt up a bit, but Bridgette reminding him that she had a boyfriend that she was scared was going to flirt with another woman got him to stop. “You’re probably right, I shouldn’t tempt you when he’s not allowed to be tempted.”

“It wouldn’t tempt me to do anything, I just don’t want to make you feel like I’m staring at you for your body, that’s all.” She finally looked back at him, making sure to focus on his eyes, which seemed so dead compared to his smile. “You get that all the time and I want you to know that I’m here as a friend, as a person on your side, not as someone who wants to be with you.”

He gave a small chuckle. “Means a lot to me, to hear a woman say that.”

“I bet it does.” She laughed as well, watching there be a little glimmer of life in his eyes. “So, about that dress that you’re going to make me wear, what’s it made out of?”

“Getting back to the situation, I like that! You really want to make sure that this goes over without any problems, and I am so down for that, because the fewer problems there are, the better of my chances of making it through tonight are.” Justin closed his eyes again for a second, and when he reopened them, there was a sparkling quality to them that would have made Bridgette swoon were it not for the fact that she knew it was there because of his passion for this show. “It’s a cute little hemp dress. Hope you don’t mind that.”

“Mind that? It’s natural, isn’t it?” He nodded. “Then where would I find a problem with it? As long as you let the rest of me stay natural, I think we’ll be able to make this work better than you’re expecting it to.”

“Uh, problem. Never had a model that hasn’t wanted me to give her a full makeover for the outfit I’m putting her in. You sure you don’t want hair and makeup?” She shook her head and he chuckled again. “Fair enough. It’s probably fitting that everything’s natural, since the dress is completely natural materials, and I don’t want to make it seem like I’m trying too hard to stay in the game.”

“So you’re saying that listening to me and what I want is trying too hard?”

“Models don’t exactly get a say in what happens to them. They want you to pose nude for something, you do it, or you’re out of a job.” He got up from his chair and stood in front of Bridgette, reaching out to touch her hair, running his fingers through it and mulling over what course of action to take. “No products in your hair, well, none that aren’t natural, correct?” he asked, trying to clarify what her wishes were before he got to planning.

She looked at him with a small smile upon her lips. “Yep, that sounds about right.”

“If I was to suggest maybe doing something a little woodsy, would that be out of the question?” Her smile faded as she had to ask what he meant by that, and that was when he stopped playing with her hair and walked away, disappearing into the mess that this backroom was. When he came back, he had a container filled to the brim with fake leaves and twigs. “Woodsy. Like a nature girl.”

“You want me to look like a nature girl with synthetic leaves. Uh huh. While it’s a cool idea, I don’t think it’ll work. Hand me that bucket so I can see what’s in there, okay?” Patting her lap, where he set the container, she started going through and looking at what goodies it held for their use. “Yeah, none of this looks like the real deal. You think you can make me look woodsy with something that looks like a craft store had a sale on?”

“It was an idea, sorry. Didn’t know that you really did care about your appearance that much.” Justin shrugged, taking the container away and setting it down in his chair. His next order of business was to grab Bridgette’s hair again and start playing with it once more. “So what suggestions do you have?”

There were several that she could have made at that moment, but something told Bridgette that telling him to leave her hair alone was not going to be appreciated. “I don’t know,” she finally said, coming up with no ideas she thought he would deem acceptable, “but I think you should be deciding. After all, you’re the designer here, aren’t you? And don’t the models get no say in things?”

“You have a point there, Bridgette! But here’s the thing, you’re miles smarter than me, and you know what works best with you. I know how to make a real model look like a million dollars, but someone who has no interest in makeup and designing herself to be like the stars? I’d be better off letting you do your own hair.” It was something brutally honest coming from someone who was used to having to sugarcoat things, and she could tell that it was taking a lot for Justin to admit such things. “Here’s the other thing, we’re probably being filmed right now—hi cameras—and we need to manufacture some drama.”

Bridgette’s eyes grew to the size of plates and she attempted to cover her face, but the way Justin was touching her hair prevented her from doing that. “You’re kidding me. Everyone’s going to know about how I’m doing this just to watch Geoff?”

“If the editors find that interesting enough, yes. Now let’s try to give them some drama as we do your grand makeover and get you ready for the show. Last thing I need is for you to not be ready when the live show starts.” He helped her to her feet, the second time that day he had done just that, even though the previous time had been under different circumstances, and no sooner was she standing did he actually grab her hand and start dragging her away. “We’ve got to get to the set-up area. The dressing trailer!”

“What’s all this then?” she asked, motioning to everything they were passing as they went. “I thought this was a dressing area.”

“It is, but not for the competitors. You’ll see what I mean when we get there.” It was in the same building as the one they were already in, but the dressing and makeup area that was meant to be shown on the television was a lot brighter and emptier than the one they had been conversing in. “See, this is much more open and easy to film. It also means we have to do a lot more searching to find what we need, but it’s what the job requires.” He pushed Bridgette into a spinning chair in front of one of the many mirrors along the wall, one decorated on the sides with his own headshots. “Now let’s get to work, shall we? We’ve got a lot to do if we’re going to be able to compete with everyone else left on the show.”

She didn’t know what he meant by that when he said it, because when had she ever watched a single episode of Clothing Bug? She hadn’t, and being thrown in as a model for the night came to be a very bad decision on her part, because for the next several hours, she was victim to that chair and the multitude of experimental things that were done to her in it, all of which involving that bucket of fake foliage from before and her hair. When the dust settled and she was deemed ready for dressing, she actually feared that the only way to restore her hair back to its normal state would be to chop it all off and start fresh, because there were so many sticks and leaves jammed in it, giving her the appearance of someone who had been sleeping in the woods for the past decade.

The dress she was expected to wear went over a lot better than her hairstyle did, because while it was made completely of hemp, it was actually something that, if she decided to dress up anywhere that wasn’t the red carpet, Bridgette would choose to wear again. “I didn’t know you were actually good at making dresses,” she remarked, looking at herself wearing it in one of the full-length mirrors in the room. “You’re much more than a pretty face.”

“Thanks, that’s what everyone says when they see what I’m capable of. It’s just a shame that Lindsay can’t accept my talents as the real deal, because winning this show would do wonders for me and my career. Having a model who can fix his own wardrobe must be an amazing thing.” Justin was beaming, looking upon Bridgette with pride in that he had turned her into a spectacle worthy of everyone watching.

But was it going to be enough?

* * *

The judges were all at their table, waiting for the contestants to come out and show off their models for scoring and judging. Geoff fidgeted in his seat, to the left of Lindsay, where he would be the last one to give his opinions on everyone and everything, and although he had been told several times what exactly he was supposed to be doing, he wasn’t entirely sure that he was in the right place. “What if I say something weird, huh?” he whispered in Lindsay’s ear, leaning over to do so. “What if they laugh at me?”

“We’ve all laughed at you before, Grant!” she chirped in reply, looking at him and nearly causing him to accidentally kiss her, due to how his face had been when she turned. “None of us here have forgotten about that totally dumb choice you made to wear puppy pants on the red carpet! Do you think we really think you know anything about fashion?”

“Uh, yeah, kinda! I’m helping judge here, aren’t I?” He pulled his face away from hers, seeing her give that clueless smile that showed she really didn’t have an answer for him. “You were being serious when you said I’m only here to side with you, weren’t you?”

“Of course I was!” She turned away, back to focusing on the empty stage before them. “If you don’t pick who I pick, then we can’t be friends anymore.”

He turned around as well, grumbling as he did. “I can’t pick who you pick just because you say I have to. And also, my name isn’t Grant. It’s Geoff. I thought you knew that.”

“It doesn’t matter. Now just do what I say and then everything will be okay!” There wasn’t any indication that the way she tilted her head when she said that was supposed to make him want to side with her, but that was how he took it, and it angered him a bit inside. This was a judge on a reality television show, she should have been playing a bit more fairly. Geoff would have commented on it right then, bringing up a point he’d been meaning to make since Lindsay first started acting so ruthless, but he figured that mentioning someone who had caused so much trouble in this woman’s life back in the day, especially right before the show started, would be a bit too much.

Then again, this was Geoff, and his timing wasn’t always the best. He didn’t make the comment right then, but he kept dwelling on it, throughout the beginning of the show where they introduced him to the audience, and into the first two presentations of models. The first one had been pretty terrible, the model wearing a dress made of recycled bags, and he made honest comments on it; after he was done, Lindsay took the time to assure that model that there was no way she was going to be the reason her designer went home, because she would definitely be getting her vote.

The second model was where things got interesting. This girl was wearing a dress of flowers, which reminded Geoff a lot of something Bridgette would like to see, and as he was making a mental note to tell her, the mental note from before about the comparison between Lindsay and someone else came roaring back at him. He wasn’t the best at remembering multiple things without mixing them up, and so it was definitely in his best interests to get them both out of his head before he made an unfortunate mistake.

That happened to be right when the announcer asked him for his thoughts, and he took that as his opportunity to get things straight before anything happened. “Uh, I’m not really one for technical terms,” he said, giving the model and designer both two thumbs up, “but I do know that flowers are something my girl Bridge really loves, and I’m sure she’d be looking banging in that dress.” The audience clapped, the model blushed, and everything seemed okay, until Geoff turned to Lindsay, whom had just given a very rude comment on the dress (saying it was tacky and not worth much of anything). “And, also, I just want to say that whatever Brid—I mean—Lindsay here just said was uncalled for, because you look amazing up there in those flowers. I think that she’s become a lot like someone who used to torment her back in the day, am I right?”

The audience erupted in laughter at the expense of Lindsay, whose jaw had dropped in disbelief at what had just happened. Trying to get control of the show again, the announcer thanked Geoff for his comments and invited the next designer and model out to the stage, and that was when things got even more interesting, because next in line was Justin and Bridgette, who took everyone by surprise. Then it didn’t matter who Lindsay wanted him to vote for, because Geoff would never vote against his girlfriend. Even if she did look like an absolute train wreck when compared to everyone else on stage.

Naturally, the person who Lindsay had assured was going to be safe went home, if only because it went to a tiebreaker and, due to some weird rules in the Clothing Bug rulebook, she was the one who had to be eliminated. And that meant that Lindsay was furious enough at Geoff for disobeying her, but then she had the anger from him making her a laughingstock to go along with it. But things could have been forgiven; after all, Bridgette had been up on stage and she knew how much he loved her. It was just how things after the show had signed off for the night went that gave her the right to still be angry.

Geoff and Bridgette had reunited back in the dressing room, where Justin was undoing all the work he had done to her hair, and they were talking about the day’s events. “It’s so weird that Lindsay’s being like that,” Bridgette commented after listening to Geoff tell her about how mean the normally-pleasant woman was being. “Sure, this show means a lot to her, but you guys are making her sound like a terrible person.”

“Sweetie, I don’t think you hear what the people out there are saying about her this season. Don’t know what it is, but everyone keeps calling her, well, I shouldn’t say it.” Justin looked away from the couple for a second, having heard his name in a different conversation, and while he was talking to whoever it was that had wanted his attention, the couple talked some more, but once he was back with them, he was in control again. “Okay, seems like old Geoff here went to say it on air tonight.”

“I went to say what? That Lindsay’s being to you guys on this show a lot like what Heather had been to her back in the day?”

“Exactly that!” He was pulling a twig out of Bridgette’s hair as he said that, so his words were drowned out by her screaming protests, but once the twig was gone and he was back to plucking leaves out he could be heard again. “Guess someone finally coming out and making the comparison has got the social media about this show going crazy. Gotta thank you for that, and for saving me tonight. Couldn’t still be in it if you hadn’t given me your vote.”

Bridgette grabbed Geoff’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Way to go, picking your girlfriend over someone who’s let power go to her head, and who’s so hotter than me.”

“Hey, she’s been mean all day, I couldn’t let her win, y’know?” Geoff sounded proud of himself as he said that, but someone giving a soft cough behind him caught him off-guard, and when he turned Lindsay was standing there. “Oh, uh, hey.”

“I was going to thank you for getting interest in my show up, even though you totally went against my plans for the night, but then I saw _why_ everyone’s so interested now, and I’m super mad about it! They’re calling me names I don’t like, and I didn’t think that actually caring about a show made me into a total bitch!” No sooner had she said it did she cover her mouth, actually having heard herself say the sentence. “I-I mean, I’m just way into this show, and it means a lot to me, and I like making people know that they don’t know fashion, but does that make me into a controlling meanie?”

“You told me to vote with you or else,” Geoff replied, a little bit of pride still in him from knowing what happened, “and I think that’s pretty controlling. Kinda like what who I compared you to used to do, huh?”

She stormed off after that, leaving them alone for the duration of the evening. The next day, after sleeping on what had happened and getting to really think about it, Geoff realized that he never exactly did anything on the front of getting Tyler back with that woman. And, he thought as he yawned and stretched to really wake up, that was probably for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter isn't going to be as much of a roller coaster as this one, if only because it's finally reunion time! See you next week to see how that pans out! :D


	8. A Reunion for the Ages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last few weeks before reunion time weren't exactly kind to the cause, but that's okay, because the cause is a pretty lame one anyway. How is it a reunion if almost no one shows up?

The time leading up to the reunion seemed to fly by like it was really no time at all, and soon it was the week of the event, and Geoff and Bridgette were having to make some last minute plans to insure that everything was going to happen the best way it possibly could. This meant, of course, that they were briefing Chris on everything that had happened over the time they were supposed to get everyone rounded up, and he wasn’t exactly pleased with their progress in things.

“What you’re telling me is that no one’s going to be there,” he said in a flat voice, staring at the two like they were two of the biggest failures alive. “Sounds to me like you weren’t convincing enough.”

“Trust me, when I say we tried, we really did try. Just listen to us.” Bridgette sighed, knowing that they had let Chris down pretty badly, but she wasn’t going to just act like they hadn’t put up a fight. There were many stories he needed to hear, and what better of a time was there to tell him them than the present?

* * *

Getting the proper address for the mental institution was a lot more trouble than it was worth, because there was a message on its website that stated that the only visits that were allowed were ones by blood family. Even though they had spoken to Ezekiel’s mother a couple of times, there was no way they were going to get her to come along and sneak them in to visit her son, especially when she seemed to ignore the fact that she had a son to begin with. Every time they had spoken to her, it was like they were teaching her about Zeke’s existence for the first time.

When they did make their attempt to visit him, not even to invite him to the reunion but just to see how he was doing, the front desk stopped them, not even telling them his current condition. They cited “patient privacy” for their actions, and no amount of convincing that this was two friends who were curious about how their old pal was doing could change their minds. Then they got kicked out of the place when someone, a family member for one of the other patients, recognized the two as the famous radio show hosts that they were, and it was definitely one of the more awkward experiences in their life, being escorted out of a mental hospital while someone chased them, asking for an autograph.

If that wasn’t bad enough, they actually had to go back into the place and back to the front desk later that day, because they had taken both of their identification cards and they sort of needed those back to do almost anything, including get back home. Yes, the debacle at the mental hospital actually caused them to miss their flight home, because they hadn’t gotten their IDs back from the front desk.

* * *

Meeting up with Beth had happened on total accident, but the fact that it happened was ultimately a very good thing, because she was almost a completely different person than she had been the last time they had hung out with her. It had all started when they ended up with a long layover between flights, something that happened frequently with all the flying they did, and while it was nice to get to explore somewhere new for a few hours while on their way home from one of their hosting gigs, it was always a struggle to find something to do to pass the time.

“You know what, I think I remember one of those letters being sent to somewhere around here,” Bridgette said, looking at a map on her phone. “Maybe, if I can find who it was that we sent that to, we’ll have something to do.” There wasn’t any argument against that from Geoff, because he was always up for meeting old friends of theirs, especially ones that they had been able to send letters to. It took a small bit of sleuthing, but Bridgette found that it had been the address belonging to one farm girl named Beth that was in the area they were in, and of all the possibilities, Beth was probably the best one there was.

There was just one slight problem with the plan to go see her, and that was that there was no mode of transportation that could get them from the airport to where she supposedly lived, which was a fifteen minute drive from where they currently stood. “Guess that plan’s a bust.” Geoff sighed. “Sucks, because she was always nice.”

“She was, but what can we do about it? Maybe we just weren’t meant to see her today.” It was an acceptance of what fate had befallen them, and as much as Bridgette didn’t want to admit it, she was pretty bummed out about the way things were going to play out. Or, at least, she was, until someone tapped her on the shoulder, and her first instinct was to look to Geoff, on her other side. “Did you touch me?”

“’Course not, babe. Always gotta ask you before I do that.”

That was when she turned to her other side, and standing next to her, head a few inches shorter than her own, was a brown-haired woman with a giant grin on her smile. “How funny that I see you guys here!” she exclaimed, her grin only getting bigger. “What brings you to my neck of the woods?”

Bridgette had to do a double take, and when it sunk it who this person was, it took all her power to not scream. Instead, after giving a small nod in Geoff’s direction to let him know that, whoever he thought this person was, he was right, they both cheerfully spoke at the same time: “Beth! It’s you!”

“Of course it’s me! Who else would it be?” Her question was genuine, because really, who else _would_ it be? “I’m so glad you guys are here. There’s so much we can talk about, but first, I’ve gotta ask you a question.”

“A question?” There were a bunch of possibilities when it came to what she was going to ask, but it was decidedly in Bridgette’s best interests to keep an open mind about what question it was going to be. “For me or for him?”

“For Geoff, definitely.” While the last time they had seen Beth she hadn’t been speaking with a lisp anymore, her voice had grown stronger and more confident in the interim between then and the present, and she just sounded so happy when she talked. “And it’s about what happened on that show you were on. You know, the one with Lindsay?”

Geoff took a second to think about what she was referring to, but when he realized that she was talking about that particular incident he didn’t like remembering, he hoped that she wasn’t going to ask too bad of a question. “Right, yeah, got it. What do you want to know?”

“Was she really as mean as you made her sound?” The voice wasn’t as cheerful as it had been when greeting them, but that was to be expected—after all, Beth and Lindsay had been best friends for the longest time. “When I last saw her, she was still nice and I just don’t want to think she’s mean unless you really meant what you said.”

“Oh, yeah, sure thing. I bet she’s still super nice when she’s not at work, but when she’s there, it’s ugly. I mean, she wanted me to go along with her and not ask questions. And I’m not stupid, I know who else used to do that, and I kinda called her out on that and I guess the social world either really liked me doing that, or really hates her for letting someone point that out.” He shrugged, seeing Beth’s reaction go from disappointed to cheerful once more. “That good enough for you?”

“Definitely. I remember being really hurt when I saw that you would say such a thing, but I can’t stand watching that show because of how unlike herself she is, so it was nice to know someone felt the same way.” Beth gave them another grin. “So okay, let’s go back to what I asked at first. What are you doing around here? Got a show to be at?”

Bridgette shook her head. “Just waiting for our flight out of here on our way home. We were presenting at an awards show earlier today.”

“Must be nice, going places all the time. Last time I left here was to go visit family, but really, I’m around here all the time. Nothing really to do except hang out at the airport and do what I get paid to do.” That was when Beth motioned to a pin on her shirt, and it hit the couple like a train why she was there to begin with: she worked at the airport, doing something or other that put her in the same place as them. “Wish I was on the flight crew, but working at the shops is cool too.”

“Means you’re here when we are, so I’d think that’s cool enough. I mean, it’s not having a radio show or anything like that, but if I wasn’t famous, I think I’d want to work here!” It was clear by how he worded his sentence that Geoff wasn’t exactly the best at saying things without making them sound too terribly rude, but Beth just let it roll off her shoulder, because she seemed happy enough with what she did for a living. “But why do you work here when you could do something cooler?”

“Just didn’t want to ever leave this place, I guess.” She shrugged, still playing with her pin. “My first real job was here, and it’s home to me. It would be too hard for me to leave and find something else. Unless you’re offering, that is.”

“What? I don’t think I’ve got anything to offer. Me and Bridge have got the show down on lock, thank you very much.” He laughed and she did as well, leaving Bridgette as the only silent one, as she was just watching the two play off of each other. “Do you listen to our show? It’s pretty cool and if you don’t, you so should.”

Beth seemed shocked for a second that Geoff would suggest such a thing, and she curbed her laughter before she replied. “Why wouldn’t I listen? I loved being around you two back when you hosted the Aftermath shows, and so I take every chance I get to listen to you be as awesome as you were back then! And yes, that means I have heard every bit of talk about the reunion, and let me tell you, I am so ready to go to that!”

“If it happens.” Bridgette finally interjected something, and it was a mood-killer of a statement. “No one really wants to go. We’ve got Owen and Izzy, maybe Tyler, and that’s really it.”

“That’s okay, I would still want to hang out with them and those guys! It would be like an underdogs kind of reunion, and that’s got to be cooler than having everyone there! Like an elite club meeting or something!” For the rest of the time they spent with Beth, nothing could top the excitement she had about not even close to everyone attending the reunion, and although they weren’t happy with how many people weren’t going to be there, it was something nice to hear someone still excited about it.

* * *

Three weeks before the reunion, there was an incident that had sent Geoff and Bridgette on yet another adventure, this one directly related to their radio show. It seemed that the big boss they worked for wanted them to cover some sort of grand opening of a store that had his name on it—a really huge deal for him and his company, and he wanted his two most recognizable personalities to be there covering it. Naturally they went with no questions asked, but with there being less than a month until the next large event in their lives, it was a slight bit of a time crunch.

Going, however, gave them an opportunity they hadn’t had up to that point, and once they were back home and back at work, they made sure to thank the man who signed their checks thoroughly for what he had helped them do. After all, how were they supposed to know that Katie and Sadie would be at that store opening?

They weren’t able to talk to the two until after the ribbons had been cut and filming had ended, but the ladies seemed to understand, waiting around for the moment when they could excitedly approach the famous duo. Their encounter wasn’t very long, because spending all day at a mall doing interviews and such was a very draining process, but it was fulfilling. The girls explained why they hadn’t been able to be contacted, that being that they had changed numbers and addresses so often due to boys that it was nearly impossible to keep tabs on them unless they were each other. They explained why they loved the idea of a reunion (one of them, Katie maybe, said she was surprised the idea hadn’t come up sooner, and the other, Sadie probably, agreed wholeheartedly) but had to reject the invitation for the same reason they couldn’t be contacted. Being part of something that would let people know what they’d been up to would just get all those boys back on their tails, and they couldn’t let that happen.

“I wonder if they’re telling the truth about that,” Bridgette wondered out loud, once they had broken away from the two ladies and were on their way out of the mall. “Something tells me they don’t exactly have a lot of guys after them.”

“I dunno, babe, maybe they do! Nice to think that maybe all the guys out there think they’re a two-for-one deal. If I didn’t have you, maybe I’d go for a deal like that!” After that was said, Geoff really should have understood why Bridgette didn’t want to talk to him again for a while, but him being as clueless as he was, he didn’t get that what he had said was a bit off. Then again, she never was very good at keeping silent from him, and once he made the comment that “at least they hadn’t been eaten by the mall after all”, she couldn’t help but laugh and return to speaking terms with him.

* * *

“So really, what you’re saying is that you didn’t try at all, basically.” Chris crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head disapprovingly at the two. “Didn’t get forceful, didn’t threaten anyone, none of that. I knew putting you two in charge of this was a mistake, but I didn’t realize it was this bad of one!”

“Dude, it’s going to be okay,” Geoff said in reply, hoping that his laid-back attitude would get Chris out of being angry. “We’ll have people there, promise. Sure, almost everyone isn’t going to go, but there will be some people!”

Bridgette thought for a second about who else they had conversed with that hadn’t already been mentioned. “We can’t help it that Harold’s got something to do that same day, even though he did invite us to one of his shows next year to make it up to us. And we can’t help it that Leshawna’s going to be there with him. We couldn’t talk to a few people so they’re just not going to make it, no matter what, and we tried to convince everyone we could to be there! We really tried!”

“Trying doesn’t mean anything when you’ve got nothing to show for it!” His arms still crossed menacingly, Chris had stopped shaking his head but was instead giving the couple a disapproving look. “I gave you since last fall to do this, and you’ve got, what? Five people going? This is the biggest thing for my career since the show started, and you’ve failed me!”

Geoff and Bridgette looked at each other, confusion in their faces, and it was Geoff who spoke to counter what they had been told. “Biggest thing for your career? You won’t even be there, okay? You had us set this up because everyone’s got things against you and you think you’ll be getting credit for this? Uh, no way! Me and Bridge did the work, we get the credit!”

“Oh, you think two little-known radio personalities deserve the credit when I’m the one who started the show in the first place? Just because I put you in charge doesn’t mean it’s going to be good for you.” The head started shaking again, this time coupled with a sigh. “You must be really dumb if you think this wasn’t done to get my image back.”

“Okay, listen, I know I’m dumb, but if you really want your ‘image’ back so badly, maybe you shouldn’t have ruined it in the first place!” Starting to shake in anger, which was a very rare thing for Geoff, he almost lunged at Chris, but Bridgette stopped him, stroking his neck to calm him down. “You make us do all this work, for what? For you to claim it was all you? That’s not right, man!”

“I know, it’s not right, but no one ever said I was exactly a nice dude. Besides, what good does putting this all together do for you two? You’ve already got fame and money, do you really need to be stealing my thunder too?”

“Yes, because we did all the work!” Now Bridgette was getting angry, and since she was holding her boyfriend back, there wasn’t anyone who was going to be able to stop her. “We traveled to find people. We sent letters and made some calls to some sketchy places. And most of all, we got to see people who we could consider friends and tried to band them together for the sake of old times, not for the sake of making you look like you’re better than you actually are!” She took a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself, but the anger flowing through her veins was just too much. “I can’t believe I actually thought you were a nice guy to us, Chris McLean. I should have known you were always in it for you.”

That was where they left the conversation, in part because Chris was a bit stunned at how honest someone as sweet as Bridgette had just gotten with him, but also in part because the couple was done with hearing this sort of nonsense. They had put things together, they were the ones who were going to benefit from it. Even if those benefits were just getting to see old friends and hang out with them for a few hours, it was better than letting Chris take all the spotlight for something he really had no part in.

* * *

Finally the day was upon them, the one where everything they had been working towards came together in a beautiful disaster. It was no secret that whatever this reunion was to be, it was going to be ugly, but as Geoff put it, it wasn’t so much about what happened there in the end, but rather it was about that fantastic adventure they got to go on while trying to set it up. That mindset was useful to have, sure, but when everything was going to be terrible once it happened, was there really any positivity to be found from the journey?

In a surprising turn of events, yes, there sure was positivity to be found from all the traveling and searching and failure. As was to be expected, there weren’t very many people at all who made their way to the reunion, but everyone who did show up was greeted with open arms and a warm smile. They didn’t have to come, and yet they did. So when Geoff and Bridgette saw the few who came in through the doors of the little event center they had rented out for the occasion, there was reason to celebrate. Izzy and Owen were the first ones to arrive, much like they had been the first to know in person that they were invited, followed quickly by Beth, excited to be somewhere that wasn’t her small town with her airport job, and then Tyler made his way in, his hands healed from the coffee incident.

This was all they expected, and this was good enough for everyone there, but there were surprises that were quickly going to follow those four arriving. The first surprise was a banging on the door, followed quickly with a gruff voice demanding to be let in. Izzy screamed, before falling to the floor in laughter, while everyone else looked between themselves, curious about who it was making their appearance.

Everyone except Geoff, that was. He casually walked over to the door, opening it just a crack so he could speak to whoever was on the other side. “Uh, password, bro,” he said, stifling a laugh as he did. The response? The door being slammed open, dragging him with it, and the towering figure of one Chef Hatchet making his entrance.

“Heard you all were having a little get-together. Figured I should be polite and come, especially when Party Boy back there asked me so nicely. Said Chris wasn’t going to be here, couldn’t refuse the offer after that.” He looked back at where Geoff was still holding onto the door, even though he and it both had been pushed away. “Thought you said there was going to be a lot of you.”

“I thought there was, dude. Guess it’s going to be a smaller event, heh.” Collecting himself from the push, Geoff closed the door once more and came over to where Chef stood. “Thanks for coming though. We’re so glad to have you here!”

“Touch me and you will be losing whatever you touch me with.” Hearing the threat, Geoff stepped away from Chef, walking over to be with his girlfriend, which left Chef there, alone, looking over the six people present. “Now where is everyone? I came with the intent to teach some of you kids a lesson I’ve been meanin’ to teach you for ten years now. A lesson called respect.”

Izzy popped up from on the ground where she had been laughing, thrusting her hand into the air as she charged at Chef until she was right in front of him. “Me! I’m here! Teach me a lesson! That is, if you’re not afraid of me!” She waved that hand in his face, and it was clear to everyone watching that it was taking every bit of strength in that man’s body to not grab her wrist and snap it. He wasn’t even able to say anything to her about it, because the mere motion of opening his mouth seemed to be something he was trying not to do—and Izzy knew it, because she just kept laughing. “Looks like you’re totally afraid of me! Oh man this is great!”

“Do you really think that having those two in the same room as each other is going to end well?” Bridgette asked Geoff, whispering into his ear as she did. “I don’t think everyone’s going to leave this place alive if she keeps that up.”

“Nah, don’t worry. Me and Chef had an agreement, he gets paid for being here if he doesn’t lose his cool on her. It’s all good.” Geoff seemed proud of his planning skills for getting someone who once had been part of torturing them all to come, and it was hard for Bridgette to not instantly accept that he had things under control. But she couldn’t just fall for his words so quickly, especially when Izzy and her insanity was involved.

She made that point right away. “What if Izzy touches him and he snaps?”

“He’s getting paid a lot to be here. He won’t snap.” To get his girlfriend to stop asking questions, Geoff planted a quick kiss on her cheek, and it did the trick. She accepted that he had a plan that was going to work, and dropped the subject.

But just because she was trying to push the matter from her mind didn’t mean that others weren’t still going to dwell on it. “I’m pretty sure Izzy’s going to get herself killed if she keeps getting in his face like that,” Beth remarked, looking from where Izzy and Chef stood over to Owen, who didn’t seem all that concerned about what was happening. “Maybe we should stop her.”

“She’s just having fun. Trust me, one of the things she’s been wanting to do lately is mess around with that guy, so until she gets to be a bit too much, I’m just gonna let her be.” Owen happened to actually look and see how angry Chef was getting with Izzy in his face, and he sighed. “Or maybe we should stop her. He doesn’t look too happy.”

“I vote someone else stops her.” Sticking his hands out to show how they were still slightly marked from where they had been burned, Tyler gave his goofy laugh. “Can’t let myself get hurt again. Might make employers not want to hire me.”

In the end, it was Owen who did have to stop his girlfriend from causing herself bodily harm at the hands of Chef Hatchet, only because there was no way Beth was going to be able to convince her to back away. “Iz, get over here!” he called out, hoping it would get her attention. It didn’t. “Come on, we’ve got the confetti guns over here!”

“Confetti guns?” Bridgette’s eyes widened and she looked at Geoff, expecting him to have an answer for why there would be such a thing at the event. “Did you buy those?”

“No way, babe, I know better than to put Izzy around guns.” He laughed, hoping that what he had just heard was a joke. “Owen’s just trying to get her to back off, that’s all. There aren’t any guns here.” Except, of course, there were, and they were something that should have never made their appearance at the Total Drama reunion, if only because Izzy and guns were never a pleasant combination. The only combination that could possibly have been worse would have been Chef and one of those guns, but since Izzy made sure that the confetti was for her use only, there was no chance of that happening.

By the time an hour had passed, Chef Hatchet had been shot in the face with confetti no less than four times, each time being funnier to Izzy than the previous one. Watching her stalk him and fire was fun enough, but that wasn’t the goal of the event and it was something that everyone else just watched as they were catching up and reconnecting to people who had endured so much under the watch of Chris McLean. “I’m so glad that Chris isn’t here. He would make this a competition, I bet, and I’m done with those kinds of things. Growing up has taught me that doing normal things is more fun than being on TV and competing and stuff.” Beth was talking to Tyler, who was nodding enthusiastically in agreement. “Wait, weren’t you on TV after the show?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t that fun. Especially not when I got banned because I wasn’t wearing pants.” His voice sounded dejected, and Beth pat him on the back a bit to try and cheer him up, but there wasn’t really much that could make Tyler happy about that situation. “Now I’ve got no girlfriend, no life, and nothing to do except try and find dumb jobs.”

“No girlfriend? You mean you and Lindsay broke up?”

Tyler shrugged. “Not really sure. She just stopped talking to me when everything got bad. Said I would be bad for her image.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound like her.” Beth sighed. “Sounds like she isn’t the person she was when she was my best friend.”

There were words that followed that which came from Tyler’s mouth, but they were interrupted by the door to the place slamming open and someone else coming in to join the festivities. At the sight of the person entering, the room fell silent, everyone turning to watch whoever it was make their entrance—and once it was known who it was, the gasping and screaming (which came solely from Bridgette) started. “What, do you all have a _problem_ with me here?” the rough voice belonging to Eva asked, as she looked around the sparse attendants of the reunion. “I was invited, I have the right to be here. If anyone has issues, I will personally solve them for you.”

“Geoff, did you invite her too without telling me?” Bridgette had to take a step back from her boyfriend as she glared at him, shaking as she did. “Do you know how mean she was to me?”

“Hey, she wasn’t on the ‘do not invite’ list, so I got her to come. She was a part of the show just as much as we were.” He gave Bridgette a thumbs-up but she shook her head, and he lowered his hand. “Well, she’s here now. Kinda can’t do anything about that, sorry.” With that, he turned his attention to the newcomer, who had noticed that no one exactly seemed thrilled with her appearance. “Hey there! Welcome to the party!”

Izzy shot off one of the confetti guns at the word “party”, and laughed after. “It really is a party now!” she said between her bouts of laughter. “We’ve got all the crazy and unstable we can handle here!”

“Uh, whatever. I came because I heard we were going to laugh at Chris McLean and how he ruined all of our lives.” Eva stepped closer to Geoff, expecting him to give answers to why this was a party and not the event she had been promised. “Last time I checked, you said there were going to be things to destroy.”

“And there are! Chef, my man, did you remember to bring the goods?” Visibly becoming a bit threatened by the way Eva was approaching him, Geoff looked to Chef, who gave a halfhearted shrug. “Come on dude, you said you’d bring them!”

“They’re in the car. Said I’d bring them, not carry ‘em in.”

There was a look of absolute relief that made its home on Geoff’s face once he heard that. “Excellent! We’re going to get to the best part of all this, now that everyone’s here, and that means we need those things you brought.”

“Ain’t my job to go get them, party boy.” Chef took a sip of whatever it was he was drinking and chuckled. “Do it yourself.”

Due to Chef’s insistence that Geoff get what he wanted himself, he had to step outside for a few moments and try to get the item in question, but the task proved too difficult for one guy to do alone, if he wasn’t super muscular like Chef was. That meant that everyone who wasn’t him went outside to do what had to be done, and the rewards were great: they were bringing a life-size replica of Chris inside, made completely out of easily-broken materials. “This is something I could destroy in a heartbeat,” Eva remarked once it was set in the middle of the room. “Good thinking to bring this.”

“Don’t thank me, thank Chef. He’s the one who got crafty and made it.” Geoff had everyone turn to the man to thank him, but he just told them to shut up and “enjoy destroying that smug face” that he had worked so hard to replicate. It took maybe five minutes, but by the time it was all said and done, there was no way to tell that the pile of paper and wood on the floor used to bear any resemblance to the famous host.

The reunion went on late into the night, with a lot of talking and drinking happening along the way. At the end of it all, there was a giant mess that needed cleaning, a lot of inebriated people to get back to safe places for the night, and the feeling that everyone who had attended had become that much closer to everyone else. A lot of terrible things had been said about people not present, and a lot of positive things had been admitted by the people who were there, which had never exactly been what the whole thing was about, but it was much better than something that was televised for the sake of reclaiming glory for a guy who had done nothing but torture them.

Everyone ended up sleeping on the floor of the place, amidst the mess that their celebrating had created, and when morning came so did the regret of not leaving. It seemed that the place had been booked bright and early the next day for a group of small children, and the sight of all these disheveled people asleep on the dirty floor was enough to make the parents dropping their kids off want to press charges. Then the threats came from the easily-angered members of the group, and it was clear that, while everyone might get in trouble for the disaster, there were some that definitely would be facing the law. Or, at least, maybe some classes on how to handle themselves in society.

All in all, the reunion may have been a total disaster if it was graded against how Chris had imagined it being. But for Geoff and Bridgette, it was about the best thing that all that work they had done could have given them. They had gotten to see people they never thought they were going to see again, they got to spend some time with the coolest of the cool, and while the end result was nowhere near as great as the journey to get to it, it was still pretty great. There was just one thing that kept them from thinking the reunion itself was the best ever: the journey they had started when they began planning it still wasn’t over, even though the event itself was.


	9. The City of Beatboxing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the reunion may be over, there are still some people that Geoff and Bridgette have to visit. Due to his successful career and tours, Harold couldn't be present at the reunion and instead invited his friends to come see him at one of his shows. How much fun could a beatboxing show be, anyway?

Although he hadn’t been able to make it to the reunion, Harold had been very interested in getting to go, and that meant that he was a bit bummed out that he was going to be busy the day it happened. Rather than just forgetting about it and moving on, he made a deal with Geoff and Bridgette about it, and invited them, all expenses paid, to go see one of his performances as H-bomb in Las Vegas the following spring. They would have been dumb to reject the offer, because even when they were doing their hosting business they were still expected to pay for something or other during the trip, and this was not just a trip out of the country, but one to see a show and to see a friend.

It really was an offer they couldn’t refuse, and that was why they took him up on it once he said he had the exact dates for the shows, and they chose one of the first ones to be at, even though they’d be around for several days surrounding the show they were going to, just enjoying some time outside of Canada. All of their traveling that they did typically kept them inside the country’s borders, and a break from what they knew so well was really great for them.

They arrived in the city of dazzling lights and gambling on a late March afternoon, and spent the first couple of days just exploring everything the town had to offer. Even with all the bells and whistles, there really wasn’t much that entertained either of them and so when it came to the night they had actually gone for, they were excited. Harold was one of the other people from Total Drama that had retained fame after his stint on the show, and finally getting to see him doing what he was best at, in person, was going to be one of the best nights of their lives.

But before they got to witness any sort of musical presentation, they were treated to a backstage tour to get to see the big performer up close. “We don’t usually get to do the backstage thing,” Bridgette said, her voice filled with excitement, as she held Geoff’s hand tightly as they were shown to the practice room behind the stage. “We’re typically the red carpet people, not the ones who get to see the performers before they go up.”

“Well, this time we aren’t doing any sort of interviewing, so it’s all good. New experiences are totally okay with me.” Geoff was grinning, looking around at all the pictures of past shows held in the theater they were going to be in. “Just can’t believe that Harold’s the reason we’re here. Who would’ve guessed that he’d actually become famous?”

“I’m sure he did, because he’d been doing this beatboxing thing since early in the show. Now let’s make sure we get to talk to him before he performs! I’d hate to be here and miss him!” There was a bit of a pause as Bridgette spoke, mostly because she too was looking around at their surroundings, and once the guide pointed them into the right direction, she was back to focusing on being excited. “Come on, you slowpoke, we don’t have all day!”

A head poked out of a doorway in front of them, the person’s eyes locking directly with Bridgette’s. “I recognize that voice,” the person said, coming fully out of the room and opening her arms wide, the two coming towards her recognizing her and making a mad dash to get into that hug. “Can’t believe it’s been so long since we last hung out. What’s it been, a few years since that album release party, yeah?”

“It feels like so much longer! How’s it been, Leshawna?” Bridgette was getting very into the hug she was now part of, making sure to tightly hug the person who had invited them into the hug in the first place. “Does living life on the road suit you?”

“Getting to stay in nice places all over the world does, let me tell you. How’s everything with you, girl? Last time we talked was when you invited me and my man out to your reunion, and even then that was like a year ago. We’ve gotta do some catchin’ up!” They broke apart from the hug and everyone entered the room Leshawna had been in before, which was empty aside from the three of them. “So, start with the basics. How did the reunion go?”

“It definitely went, that’s for sure. Would have been a lot better if you guys could have made it, but we understood that you couldn’t.” Bridgette had a huge smile on her face, just being in the presence of someone who had been so nice to her back in the day, and she wanted to let it be known that she was incredibly happy to be there. “Thanks for inviting us out here to come see Harold, since you couldn’t come to the reunion. At least we’re going to get to catch up a bit, right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. There’s just an itty-bitty problem with y’all being here today, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Leshawna sounded a bit unhappy as she said that, but as quickly as that happened, she was back to being enthused about her friends being with her. “Okay, so give me the details ‘bout this. Heard from a friend that you didn’t invite everyone to your little reunion dealie. What’s up with that?”

“They probably didn’t have any way for us to contact them, that’s why. Who’d you hear that from?” Bridgette looked at Leshawna inquisitively, waiting for an answer, but it was handwaved and marked as simply a friend. “If you don’t say, I can’t give you what you want to know!”

Leshawna laughed. “Figured about as much. Guess you had several people not get invites?”

“We did. If it wasn’t so long ago, I’d probably remember who didn’t get one, but it’s been over a year since all that stuff happened. I barely remember what we did yesterday, let alone who we couldn’t mail anything to back then.” Crossing her hands in front of her, Bridgette looked at Leshawna happily. “Why do you ask about that, though? I'm really curious.”

“Just seein’ if I could trust a brother, that’s all.”

The couple looked to each other and both burst out laughing. “So you’re talking about DJ then, right? As in, the guy we were told was living out in the wilderness?”

“You got me. Poor guy comes around every once in a while, looking for someone to talk to about all the stuff he sees.” Leshawna shrugged. “It’s kinda weird, but he’s a nice guy. Always glad to help someone who needs it.” She stopped talking for a second, listening to faint voices in the room next to theirs. “I think we’re about to be joined, y’all.”

Geoff tried to hear what the voices were saying, but he couldn’t hear much more than mumbles that didn’t amount to words. “How can you tell? It’s, like, silent stuff being said out there.”

“I’ve been dealing with this for a while, I know how it goes. Now shush up so we give H-bomb the attention he deserves.” As if it had been rehearsed, right as she finished speaking the side door to the room opened up, followed with a loud drum beat, which only got louder as a big, hairy man came in, much to Leshawna’s surprise. “Or maybe Beardo? Thought you weren’t going to come in ‘til later, sweets.”

The man gave a very animated shrug, giving a ping-like noise as he did. “Uh, is something wrong with this dude? Who is he?” Geoff asked, looking to Leshawna for answers. “He looks kinda dirty for being here.”

“That’s Beardo. Helps out with some of the shows my man puts on, with all the weird noises he can make. I’m not completely down with what he does, but hey, he’s a brother, what can I do?” She laughed, and Beardo gave a dramatic chortle, one that sounded a lot like something that would come straight from a laugh track. “Okay, that’s a bit much.”

“Does he talk?” Bridgette raised her eyebrows as she got a good look at the guy who had joined them. He was tall, with a mass of black hair on top of his head and at the end of his chin, and he was wearing a disgustingly stained suit. “Or does he just make noises?”

“Just the noises unless you know him. And right now, I wish you did know him, to get him to shut up.” As he was starting make noises that were beginning to sound a lot like elevator music, Leshawna’s comment was very relevant for the situation. “But this talent of his comes in handy when they’re out performing. I’ve just heard enough of it to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. Can’t wait to get away from this for a few days.”

Turning his attention from the guy who was making the room sound like an endless elevator, Geoff gave Leshawna a confused look, complete with tilt of the head. “What do you mean, ‘get away’? No one told us you were leaving.”

“That’s because it doesn’t involve you, don’t worry. Just got some friends coming into town for their own reasons later this week, and I’ll be hangin’ with them rather than my musical crew. Just need a break from endless sounds, that’s all.” Judging by the way she was talking, it was pretty easy to guess that Leshawna was at the end of her metaphorical rope when it came to beatboxing and noise makers. “Instead, I’ll be getting to spend my time with a great gal pal and do some cheering for an underdog.”

She didn’t seem to want to talk more about it, by the way she was a bit cagey with how she referred to the other people, and so the couple decided it would be in their best interests to move on to a different subject. After all, it must have been awfully rude to be talking about wanting to be with other people when one of the people she’d be escaping was in the very same room as she was. “That sounds cool,” Bridgette said, as she tried to come up with a different topic for discussion. “Bet you’ll have a lot of fun with that.”

“Oh there’s no doubt that I will! But enough about that, don’t want Beardo here thinking that I’m going to actually enjoy not being with him or my sugar pie for a few nights.” Her laugh that followed that statement gave the exact opposite vibe that what she said had, confirming the suspicions of the others about why they needed to change the subject. Even Beardo was catching on, making a bit of a sad trombone noise as he bowed his head. “No, don’t be like that, please. I’m gonna come back happier than ever, don’t you worry!”

His response was to turn that trombone into a more upbeat tune, making everyone laugh, none harder than Geoff. This guy was something he’d never seen before, and it was so cool to him that there was someone out there who communicated through sounds that weren’t words or grunts. “Does he know how to make, like, any sort of noise? I think I wanna hear him start sounding like a dog or something, like a really realistic one!” On that cue, Beardo began to bark, the sounds coming from his mouth sounding identical to what several dogs barking in unison would sound like. “Whoa, that’s the coolest thing ever!”

“How else do you think they get so many different backbeats for the music? It ain’t coming from a machine, it’s coming from him.” Leshawna looked proudly to Beardo, who yipped like a puppy would for a treat. “Saves my string bean so much on figuring out what noises compliment his best. He just lets Beardo listen and, well, he does what he does best!”

The response to that? What sounded like a loud round of applause filled the air, and while at first it seemed like it was simply an overzealous counter to what Leshawna had said, it served a dual purpose—because at that moment, donning golden clothes that shined in the light, Harold walked in the room. He awkwardly cleared his throat to let everyone know he was there, as Beardo’s applause died down, and Geoff was the first of the two visitors to make eye contact with him. “Hey, glad you could make it to my show,” the breathy voice that belonged to the golden-clad, red-haired newcomer said. “Nice to see someone has taste in music. And knows to not turn down an invitation.”

“Uh, yeah totally!” The truth was that, aside from small snippets that he’d been forced into listening to when reviewing his albums, the last full performance of Harold’s that Geoff had seen was all the way back on Total Drama, and he didn’t want to admit to that to the guy’s face. If he was convinced that Geoff was an avid listener and lover of beatboxing, then that was the appearance he was going to keep up. “I’d be dumb to reject you for this! Backstage time with a big performer? Sign me up!”

“You don’t need to sound so fake about it, gosh!” Just like that, Harold made it clear that he really hadn’t changed much in the time it had been since Total Drama, even though he had clearly hit it big in fame. “Just say you’re happy to be here, and leave it at that.”

Geoff shrugged. “Whatever, dude. I was being serious with that. Can’t turn down an invite to see a friend doing what puts his name up in lights.”

“That’s what they all say when they want tickets to see me, and I laugh.” To make his point even stronger, he laughed right then in Geoff’s face. “Calling me your ‘friend’ when we clearly are not friends, and acting like you are here to actually see me? I see right through your lies, and I—“

“Harold, baby, knock it off. These two _are_ our friends. So maybe you did invite them ‘cause we weren’t making it to that little reunion, but I know that any friend of mine is one of yours, and these two are definitely friends of mine.” Leshawna used the few precious moments she had to diffuse the situation very well, and she got a dramatic sigh courtesy of Harold in return. “Now apologize to our guest, he really is excited to be here.”

“—okay, fine, but only because you say so.” Harold cleared his throat, with Beardo mimicking the sound in the background, and looked Geoff straight in the eyes. “I’m sorry for doubting what you said about wanting to be here and being my friend and stuff. Didn’t know that you and my Leshawna were pals, though.”

“I, uh, think that she was more talking about me when she said the ‘friends’ thing,” Bridgette quipped, raising her hand and getting Harold’s attention. “Which we totally are! She’s great and lovely and I’m so glad that we got to spend some time with her while you were rehearsing or whatever it was you were doing before this.”

“I was making sure my performance tonight will be just as good as any other, not just ‘practicing’, thank you very much.” Harold narrowed his eyes at Bridgette as he made that correction, before he turned to Leshawna and spoke to her. “They weren’t too bothersome, were they? I know that some of my guests can be a bit much.”

She rolled her eyes and opened her arms for a hug, which Harold quickly took advantage of. “You know that I love these two. Broke my heart when we were halfway ‘round the world when they had their li’l reunion thing last year, and we weren’t able to go. Why would I ever say that they’re bothersome?”

“Because you say everyone I stick with you while I get ready is bothersome.” He stepped back out of the hug, looking at her with those same narrowed eyes he had been looking at Bridgette with not that long before, all while Beardo made dramatic noises in the background. “Don’t think I don’t listen to what you say when I’m not paying attention. Just because my eyes are on a replay of a show doesn’t mean I’m not able to hear all the malicious and wrong things about my friends.”

“Honey, you must have never spent a minute alone with Trent then. He’s a bit weird, and while I can dig that you and him are friends, he’s not my cup of tea.” Leshawna shuddered a bit as she said the name she had used, and Geoff and Bridgette looked between each other when they heard it, something that she noticed. “Oh, y’all didn’t know he comes to these sometimes, did ya? He’ll be here after the show tonight,” she said, before dropping her voice to add one more word, “sadly.”

Harold scoffed. “I heard that. He’s a cool dude, and I am happy he’s coming to see us later. Even if he’s choosing some other music show over mine. Idiot.”

“Hey, didn’t we have a hard time trying to convince Trent to come to the reunion?” Bridgette asked Geoff as quietly as she possibly could without being heard by anyone else, a difficult feat but one made easier with Beardo’s background noise and the ongoing arguing between Harold and Leshawna. When Geoff nodded that she was right, she continued her thought. “So maybe this can be our chance to see what he’s been up to. Or maybe this’ll be our chance to be happy he wasn’t there.”

“I’unno, Bridge, maybe we should get out of here before he shows up. I know, best to think happy thoughts for everyone and what they’re doing, but that guy did lose his marbles a few times…” Geoff’s voice got louder as he spoke, resulting in Harold hearing the second half of the sentence and accusing the blond of talking bad about him. “No! No way, man! You invited me and my babe here to see you, and I am definitely not dumb enough to talk bad about you where you can hear. Who do you think I am, a jerk?”

There was a second where Harold started to try to make himself seem more intimidating, taking what he thought Geoff was saying about him to heart, but he was quickly stopped by another hug by Leshawna. “Now, don’t think that he’d say anything like that about you, got it? He’s talkin’ about someone else, not you, so don’t get yourself worked up like this. You can’t go out on stage after being angry, and it’s almost time for you to show that audience what you’re made of.” Her words got him to calm down quickly, aided by the soft chirping and friendly noises that Beardo was making behind them. “Okay, really now, don’t need your musical sass all the time.”

“Sorry.” It was one word, one tiny word that was spoken instead of the various noises that the mouth it came from had been used for the entire time, and it was something so different that it got the attention of the two people who weren’t expecting it. When they looked to Beardo, though, he was back to whistling innocently, as if he hadn’t said a single thing.

That was the only word they heard him say all night.

* * *

The show was an experience that only people who enjoyed beatboxing and weird noises and occasional musical interludes would truly appreciate, and it was something that really would never find a long-term home on the Vegas strip. That may have been why what Harold and Beardo were doing was considered a “limited engagement”, or maybe it was because the owners of the resort they were performing at knew that not a lot of people would want to come to such a strange show after more than a few weeks. Even though it was one of the weirder experiences in life, the seats were sold out and there was barely any room for anyone to breathe in the crowd—unless they were in the special VIP section right at stage level, which is where Geoff, Bridgette, and Leshawna all got to watch the show.

After all was said and done and the lights in the room went from dim to bright, Geoff may have regretted being there only a little bit, that being because he swore he had been spit on a time or two. And Bridgette had spent most of the time using her phone to talk to Leshawna without seeming rude, catching up even more with the woman they were getting to hang out with. There wasn’t much in the way of gossip to share that she didn’t already know thanks to the radio show, but just getting to learn more about what they had been up to in the years since Total Drama was a nice thing.

At any rate, it was nicer than what was about to follow. The room had cleared out minus the cleaning crew, the performers, and the VIPs, and as the confetti was being swept up off the floor, Harold approached his guests, his chest puffed out in pride. “So, was it the best thing you have ever gotten to see?” he asked, looking straight at Geoff as he did. “I am positive that it was, because nothing ever beats my beats, if you know what I’m saying.”

He laughed, and Geoff struggled to find any words that he could string together that would put a good spin on his thoughts, so Bridgette took the honors of speaking for him. “We loved it. Very happy you invited us. This was much better than the reunion was, so it was well worth the wait.” She beamed, hoping that Harold would buy what she was saying, and it seemed like he had, as he laughed more and had a smile upon his lips. Would she ever tell him that she was stretching the truth a bunch? Yes, it was better than the reunion, but that was because of the end of said reunion, and because she had gotten to spend the time catching up with Leshawna, who clearly had her mind on other events.

The issue wasn’t pressed any further, thankfully, and soon they were all headed back to that backstage room where they had spent the time before the show. As Harold and Beardo led the pack, followed closely by Leshawna and the two guests trailing behind, they approached the door and everyone began to enter the room. “I hope we can leave soon,” Geoff said, his voice low to try and avoid that problem he had encountered before. “If I get asked again what I thought of that show, I think I’ll say that I hated it. Not that I did, but because I don’t know what I thought of it!”

“I know, that’s why I spoke for you when he asked last time. I’ll just tell Leshawna that we’re tired and need to go, and I bet she’ll understand. Maybe she’ll even meet up with us again tomorrow or something so we can keep hanging out with her.” Bridgette sighed happily, thinking about getting to see their friend outside of this place, but her happy thoughts were cut short when she heard said friend exclaim something that had several curse words attached. “Wait, what just happened?”

Geoff shrugged, just as confused as his girlfriend was, and they made their way into the room where a dark-haired man waited for them. “Oh hell no, I am not dealing with you if you’re being like that,” they heard Leshawna saying as they entered. “You can’t be acting like you want my respect if you’re going to do that.”

“It was just me commenting on a rumor I heard,” the man said, before looking at the late entrants to the room. “Oh! Hey! Long time no see, although it hasn’t been that long since we last spoke. How are things?”

Geoff and Bridgette shared one of those clueless looks, unsure of how to respond, and Harold took that as a sign of rudeness from them, telling the man, “Don’t bother with them. All night they’ve been incredibly rude and disrespectful to us all.” Beardo countered that with a loud buzzer noise, because he had been around for everything minus the events during the show, and he knew that they weren’t being rude to anyone, especially not someone they hadn’t had the chance to speak to. “No more noises, the show’s over.”

Once again, Beardo made a sound reminiscent of a game show buzzer that indicated that someone was incorrect, and in the moment after he stopped, Bridgette managed to say something that she hoped wouldn’t be seen as prolonging that rudeness: “Hey there, Trent. Nice to see you, even though you couldn’t make it to the reunion.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. When you said Gwen wasn’t going to be there, I thought, what’s the point? I’ve changed, she’d love to know that, and she’s playing hard to get.” Trent laughed, a hollow sound that only made Bridgette even more apprehensive to speak to him. “At least, if what I heard was true, I’ll get to see her soon.”

“You ain’t invited to anything she’d possibly be at, so there’s no way at all you’d be seeing her.” Leshawna rolled her eyes as she spoke, very noticeably annoyed with the fact that Trent was speaking about someone that actually meant something to her. “Besides, even if you and her were both invited to the same thing, do you really think she’d go to it? Girl’s harder to find than a hiding criminal.”

“Don’t we know that,” Geoff said, nudging Bridgette in the ribs a bit, much to his girlfriend’s dismay. “We couldn’t get to talk to her about anything when we were doing the reunion planning. Really torn up about that, too. Would have loved to have seen her.”

“I’ve been trying to see her since I started touring with my acoustic group.” After he said that, Trent walked over to the side of the room and picked up a guitar he had placed there, strumming it a few times. “Bet she’d dig to see how much I’ve improved at it, and how much I’m totally over her. Just want to be friends now.”

“Doesn’t sound like it by the way you’re talkin’,” Leshawna muttered under her breath, glaring at Trent as she did. “You’re acting like Gwen’s a piece of meat that you have claim to, and guess what? She’s a person. She’s got feelings. And you, you don’t respect those.”

The guitar dropped to the floor as Trent realized what was being said to him, and in the shock of Leshawna’s accusations he completely forgot that he had been holding the thing. It broke when it made impact, the sound of wood cracking filling a stunned silence. “I—what? Don’t respect her? If I didn’t respect her, do you think I would have done what I’ve done and left her alone? No, I would have bothered her. Which I haven’t done.”

“You want to do it, though, and I will be the first to tell you that she doesn’t want that. She doesn’t need a man. She’s happy being on her own, and no matter what, I ain’t letting you change that.”

“Okay, wow, you’re attacking me and I’ve done nothing wrong here.” Trent looked to his ruined guitar on the ground and sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought her up.”

“You never should bring her up.” With that, Leshawna stepped outside, most likely to collect herself, leaving Bridgette and Geoff there with Harold, who seemed to think they were rude, Trent, who was definitely still a loon, and Beardo, who may have been weird but was at least a cool dude to be around. It wasn’t long after all that happened that they decided it was time to leave for the night. After all, it had gotten late and things were not very pleasant at all. As they made their way out of the venue, they saw Leshawna, messaging someone on her phone, and when they tried to tell her goodbye, she apologized for everything that had gone down since the show ended. “I told y’all, that man is nothing but trouble,” she said, giving them a hug before going back to her texting. “And now I’ve gotta make sure that what he was saying isn’t true. Can’t let him win this one.”

Rather than asking what she was talking about, they decided that was best left alone, and so they went back to the safety of the hotel room they had been so graciously given. That was most likely the only good thing that came out of their stay in Vegas, aside from getting to see Leshawna: the lovely place they were sleeping every night and that they got to call “home” for the few days they got to have wonderful adventures in a city unknown to them.

The day they left town was an adventure in itself, though, and one that they’d rather never had to have. It was just like any return trip home, going through an airport and trying to make it to their gate on time, without exploring too much and getting lost. There was a bit of gambling to be had before they left, and after spending some time at the last slot machines of their trip, they made that journey to their gate; it was while they were walking that Geoff could have sworn he saw someone who made him get a bit angry, someone who was dark and slightly handsome and most everything he wasn’t.

“Uh, Bridge?” he asked, looking at his girlfriend, who was shaking her head. “Did we spend too long staring at spinning reels, or was that—?”

“Don’t. Just don’t.” She knew who he was referring to, she had seen the same person that he just had, and she didn’t want to think about it. “Let’s act like we didn’t just see him storming through here like he’s on a mission and go home, shall we?”

Geoff was not going to argue against that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, next chapter's the last one! I'm actually kinda really sad that the end is upon us, but hey, what could possibly happen next?  
> If you haven't read [her, him, them], the last chapter of this fic is entirely spoilers for every event in that fic, more or less. After all, this is a companion piece to that one, and the storylines are going to intertwine one last time. So if you've been meaning to read that, go do it before I post the end of this fic! If you haven't been interested in it, maybe the ending here will make you interested! :D


	10. Final Stops Bring New Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last stop on Geoff and Bridgette's grand journey through Total Drama contestants takes them to a little house in the city, one where a person they wouldn't have been able to see in years says he's living. What happens inside those doors invites them through a journey of someone else's--before something happens to give them a new adventure of their own.

The address they had been given took them to the front step of a little house in the middle of the city, something that looked like it could maybe hold one person, tops. “Man, how did Duncan land a neat place like this right out of the slammer?” Geoff asked out loud, before knocking on the door. “Gonna have to ask him about that when we see him.”

To their surprise, it wasn’t Duncan who opened the door to greet them. Bridgette’s face lit up in a smile at first, but it quickly faltered when she saw the fresh scars on Gwen’s neck. “I was wondering when you two would show up,” Gwen said with a very soft laugh. “All Duncan has been talking about today is getting to see you guys.”

“W-what happened to you?” Bridgette pointed at the scars, which she knew her eyes were lingering on. “Was it him?”

“No,” she replied, stepping back to let the two in. “It wasn’t him. Long story, don’t want to dwell on it. Just get in here so we can all catch up.” They did enter the house, which was just as small inside as it looked to be on the outside, the only thing giving it more room being the fact that the bedroom was above the floor as a loft, accessible only through a ladder. Once they were inside Gwen shut the door and returned to what was assumed to be her typical spot on the couch, leaving the two standing in the entryway. “You can sit down on the chairs over there, if you want.” She pointed to two folding chairs against the wall. “We’re going to be here a long while, so get comfortable.”

“What could possibly keep us here for a long time?” Sitting down on one of the chairs, Bridgette taking the one to his left, Geoff had no idea that he was quickly going to have his question answered. “I mean, this is just some talking and catching up, yeah?”

There was a throat-clearing cough that came from up on the loft bed, and everyone’s attention turned to it, where a head of green hair could be seen. “Let’s think about this, shall we? Dude’s been in prison for years, friends come to visit him once he’s out, find out that he’s crashing with incredibly hot ex-girlfriend of his, and you don’t think we’re going to be talking about everything late into the night? Man, Geoff, you’re as dense as ever, aren’t you?”

“Heh, probably dude!” Geoff laughed, and Duncan righted himself up on the loft, before jumping down and hitting the floor with a hard thud. “Whoa, did you really just jump down like that? Aren’t you scared you’re going to hurt yourself?”

“No way. Used to jumping onto concrete floors, so a wooden one is a lot better.” He dusted himself off, before sauntering over to sit right next to Gwen, wrapping an arm around her once he was settled. “Besides, seeing peoples’ reactions when I do that gives me the warm fuzzies.”

“And I would really like it if you wouldn’t do that. You’re going to end up hitting your head and I don’t think I’ll want to help you out if you do.” In response to that, Duncan squeezed Gwen tightly, pulling her into him until she yelled for him to stop, which he did instantly. “You have to be careful, please!” she told him, and the two watching this thought she was just referring to him being rough, but Bridgette saw that she was rubbing a bit at that nasty scar. “It still hurts and you doing that doesn’t help.”

“Sorry babe, got caught up in the moment and forgot about that.” To apologize, Duncan gave Gwen a quick kiss, which dropped her focus from her scar and put it on him.

However, it certainly didn’t take Bridgette’s attention away from the injury. “I know you said you didn’t want to dwell on it, but I really want to know what happened to you, especially if it’s still hurting you.” She tried to make herself sound not so prying, but she was fully aware that by pressing the issue, she was being just that. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell the whole story, I guess, but…”

“It’s a long, long story. Trust me, if you two didn’t think you’d be here all day already, then hearing that story would make this a two-day event.” Gwen pulled herself away from Duncan, who was still trying to kiss her even more, and looked at the others with a smile. “Not like we’re going to get very far without getting into that stuff, but whatever.”

“Then why don’t we just get into it now? There’s always a quick way to go through things, isn’t there?” Bridgette’s insistence was not because she was being nosey, but because she really did care about what had happened to her friend. “Can’t you just tell us that part of the story and call it good?”

Two things occurred at the same moment after that. As Gwen said that she probably could do just that, and that it may just be easier to tell the part of the story that led to her getting that neck injury, Geoff’s wandering eyes started to comb the room due to his lack of attention span. Right as Gwen turned to Duncan to find a good place to start recounting events, Geoff spotted a brightly-colored bag that seemed to have all sorts of little pink things coming out of it. Before saying anything about it, he had to mentally ask himself what something so pink and girly would be doing in a place where two punk-like people were living, and once he had an explanation for it, he shouted it out: “Dudes, does someone here have a secret they need to spill? I see something for babies!”

Now she had two stories she wanted to hear, and although Bridgette’s heart had been set on hearing the one about the scar, once she had the baby clothes in the bag pointed out to her, she needed answers for that too. “What is something like that doing here? It doesn’t look like it belongs to you guys, and how would it? Unless Duncan’s been out of prison longer than he told us, that is.”

“Oh, uh, that’s another very long story, which sort of goes into the one I’ve already got to tell you.” Gwen, looking at the bag, before her eyes glazed over several other related things that seemed very out of place, gave a small sigh. “Guess we’re going to be here all day and night hearing the whole thing, if you want answers about why that’s here.”

“Which we do.” Speaking in unison, Bridgette and Geoff both seemed interested in hearing the whole thing, which made Gwen sigh again. She stood up, getting over to the little kitchen in the house and grabbing a piece of paper off the counter, one that was covered front to back in tiny words.

“It’s probably a good thing that I thought ahead and wrote the order of events down then, huh?” she asked, getting a laugh out of the two who had asked for this, although it was a bit of an awkward laugh. They weren’t expecting the story to have so much detail that it needed to be written down, but it was too late to back out. Answers were needed, a point that Geoff made after Gwen asked if there was anyone who didn’t want to have to hear what she was about to say. “Okay then, but let me tell you, I’m not even in this story to begin with, but you wanted the whole thing. You’re getting the whole thing.”

Little did either of them know that the whole thing started with something that Geoff and Bridgette had already heard about from a different source. No sooner did Gwen mention a “chance” meeting on an airplane did Bridgette interrupt her. “Sorry, sorry, but we’ve heard that story before. Sierra told us that already.”

“She did?” Gwen’s voice took an inflection of curiosity, and Bridgette nodded. “Huh. No one told me that she’d seen you guys. When was this?”

Bridgette nudged Geoff to get him to answer. “Oh, uh, when was it? I don’t know. Sierra came in and said dirty things to a picture of Cody and it was just weird. But I think she said it happened a few weeks before she saw us? Maybe. Don’t really remember. Trying to block that morning out of my mind.”

“She also said that she was trying to get you out of Cody’s life, Gwen.” Bridgette had figured that Geoff wasn’t going to be the most reliable of sources for talking about what had happened that morning, and so she had prepared herself for having to say anything else vital about it. “All she really did was talk about how much she hated other women being around Cody and that was it.”

“Okay, well, looks like I can skip some of this story then. Thanks for letting me know you know some things.” She smiled at the two, before looking back at her paper of the story as it had happened. “But you don’t really know much of anything, so there’s that.”

“You mean, there’s more to this story than _that_?” There was a lot of regret in Bridgette’s voice, because she hadn’t even begun to imagine just how intense this story could possibly be. “Are you telling me that you have more stuff to say than that they did things on a plane and you got your throat cut somehow?”

Gwen looked over the top of her paper, straight into Bridgette’s eyes. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Now let me get back to this, skipping the whole ‘first’ plane incident. Because, guess what? There’s more.”

And so the next few hours were spent with Gwen getting through roughly eight months of time in the form of a compiled story that she had gotten by putting several sources together in one, firm timeline. Along the way were many outbursts, mostly from Bridgette about her aversion to hearing a certain name—“It’s either get over that or not get the story,” Gwen told her, and she quickly decided that hearing the name wasn’t so bad after all—but a few were from Duncan, who had heard the story from some of the sources prior to this and just wanted to cause some trouble. “Yeah, but you’ve forgotten the best part about all of this,” he said each time he wanted to interrupt. “You haven’t told them about _how_ it happened.”

“Duncan, I swear, I’m not going to touch that, and I’m going to be talking about a lot of things I’d rather not talk about.” Gwen had situated herself up on the countertop for optimal storytelling, and she had just flipped the paper over for the second half of the material. “If you want them to know, ugh, those details, then you tell them.”

“I mean, I don’t get what’s so bad about it. You made sure to mention the part about her moaning, so what’s so bad about bringing up their kinky roleplaying?” He waggled his eyebrow seductively, making Gwen roll her eyes, while Geoff and Bridgette both covered their faces in disgust at the words that had just left their friend’s mouth. “Oh, come on, it’s not bad. Just imagine it, will you?”

Gwen sat her paper on her lap and shook her head. “I don’t want to imagine it. And I don’t think I like knowing that you’ve imagined it.”

“What can I say? She was always a hottie, and those short shorts she used to wear translate well into little pleated skirts.” It was clear that Duncan was having fun with making everyone else either uncomfortable or unamused, but he stopped when Bridgette had to stand up and actually leave the room for a second to collect herself.

She didn’t go far, just outside the front door, but once she was out there she had to take several deep breaths and focus all her energy on pushing those mental images far from her mind, because there were several things wrong with the situation she was in and the worst one was that she was being treated to narrative of the life of maybe the one female Total Drama contestant she hadn’t wanted to see again. After a few moments of deep breathing she went back inside and took her seat once more, expecting the story to continue on like it had been. Instead, she was caught up to speed about what she missed in those few moments by her boyfriend. “You missed it,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “He kept going.”

“Yes, he did, and now he’s going to stop, or I’m going to smack him with a belt and he’s not going to like it.” The words came out of Gwen’s mouth before she realized what she was saying, and once everyone heard it, the two guys laughed. “Okay, not funny. You know what I was going for.”

“Sounds to me like you wanted to keep the bad teacher images coming. I’d definitely bend myself over a desk if you were teaching.” Once again he did the eyebrow waggling, and Gwen responded by throwing a pan in Duncan’s direction. He dodged it, before saying, “Message received. No more. Got it.”

“Now that we’ve gotten all of that sexual stuff out of the way, where was I?” She looked at her paper for a second, before laughing. “Oh, yeah, this was a good day. Might I direct your attention over to the pile of clothing beside you guys?”

Geoff looked to his right, which put him staring directly at the wall. “Uh, problem.”

“Other side, genius.”

“Oh, okay.” Brushing off the insult that Gwen had used, he turned and had to lean over Bridgette slightly to see what was being referred to. “Dude, this is just some clothes. What’s the big deal about this?”

That was where Gwen gave some imagery of her own, except this was about as far from sex-related as it could get. “Imagine this, okay? Cody and myself, sitting on the couch, listening to screams of horror coming from the bathroom. These screams could have been in a horror movie, they were so bad. Then, when it gets silent, those clothes come flying from the doorway and hit the wall. Haven’t moved since then.”

“So you’re saying that whoever was throwing a fit did this?” Bridgette was trying to make sense of what she had just heard, but while she was trying to do that, Duncan was losing his calm and laughing up a storm over on the couch. “Okay, what’s so funny? Obviously someone had a problem that they solved through getting rid of this stuff!”

“Dude, you’re missing the whole point. Haven’t you been listening to the story up to this point? The problem wasn’t the clothes.” Doubling over in an attempt to control himself, it wasn’t until he had stopped laughing for the most part that he continued to explain. “But I don’t think Gwen would appreciate me stealing that part of the story from her, so if you need it spelled out for you, she can do it.”

“I’m not going to,” she snapped, angry about yet another Duncan distraction from her story. “What happened wasn’t that important, I was just trying to clear everyone’s mind of other things you’ve tried to get stuck with us. Besides, as much as I’m still not pleased with her, the point of all this isn’t to make Heather seem bad, so we’re done here. I’m moving on to what happened next, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Apparently there was, because Duncan jumped up, grabbed Gwen’s phone off the counter next to her, and unlocked it. “Pretty sure there’s lots I can do to stop you, babe, first thing being that I can just show them the evidence that you’re trying to hide.”

“Don’t, please! Just let Gwen get through this, so we aren’t dwelling on this for longer than it has to be.” Bridgette looked like she was about to lose her cool and have to leave again if they didn’t just get to the point, and Duncan took what she said to heart, keeping the phone to himself and allowing the story to continue on.

There was a slight problem with Bridgette’s line of thinking. She had assumed that they would be close to done with the story at that point, and therefore there wouldn’t be much left to listen to before they’d be done. The reality was that, while there wasn’t much time left to cover in the story, there was a lot that happened in the short span that was left. Several intertwining storylines that had been nearly converging up to that point all crashed together right after Gwen resumed her story telling, and one point that she mentioned hit very close to home in Bridgette’s heart: “No way, _you_ were the friend Leshawna was talking about seeing?”

“Wait, when did you see her? She didn’t mention you guys when we were together in all of this.” Gwen shook her head in disbelief. “Then again, there was a lot of other things that we were focusing on, so we might have skipped that bit of small talk.”

“Guess we saw her right before this, since she was talking about going to see a friend of hers soon after! Huh, what a small world!” Geoff seemed genuinely in shock that something like that could happen, and it was a rather interesting situation to have been had, but it wasn’t anything that should have been too shocking. After all, Leshawna had said it was going to be a friend she would be seeing, and who else had been her friend aside from Gwen? It all made sense, especially the way Leshawna had gotten so protective over Gwen when she had been brought up. “But continue on, okay? Don’t mean to slow you down more.”

“Thanks for not making that too long of a distraction. Really appreciate it. Now let me get back to where I was, when we were discussing the very recent events in that bathroom…” Things in the story dragged on, getting even more complicated as the number of individual storylines dwindled and everything stayed together. By the time an hour or two more passed, the span of just a few weeks had gone by in the story, and it was getting to be a bit too much on the limited attention to things that Geoff was able to give. Right as he was about to make a comment about how he wasn’t really following what was happening anymore, that was when Gwen hopped off the counter, set the paper down and pointed to her scar. “Now, to one of the two things that made you guys have to hear this whole dumb thing in the first place. How I got this scar.”

“Is it going to take a long time to tell? ‘Cause I’ve got to take a leak and maybe stare at some birds or something before I can hear much more of this.” True to his word, Geoff was dancing as he sat, and Gwen sighed, told him that it would take a while and that it would be best for him to handle his business before she started, and he was up like a rocket, running into the little bathroom beneath the loft bed as fast as he could. He was in there for a few minutes, long after they all heard the flush, and when he came back out he was holding a couple of items that, upon sitting down, made Bridgette question what he had been doing for all that extra time.

“Uh, Geoff, last time I checked, using someone’s bathroom didn’t mean going through their stuff,” she said, looking at the items he had brought out with him, all of which were little soaps with one washcloth. “You’re not planning on stealing those, are you?”

“Nah, just really liked the smell of these things. Figured if I brought them out here, they’d be something to keep me distracted while I listen to this story.” He beamed at her, expecting her to buy what he said, but she ordered him to go back and put the things away. As he did, Duncan started laughing over on the couch, Gwen rolled her eyes where she stood, and Bridgette felt the smallest bit of shame for being with someone who acted like that. But once again, he was gone far longer than he should have been, and this time, he didn’t return. Instead, his head popped out of the doorway and he looked a bit flustered. “Question time. If I found someone’s undies in here, wha—“

“Just get out here and stop going through Gwen’s stuff!” Now Bridgette was definitely embarrassed, and she hoped that what Geoff had just said didn’t embarrass their friend too. Duncan was cracking up so hard he had fallen over, but righted himself just in time to see Geoff make the walk of shame from the bathroom back to his chair.

He happened to bring the offending item with him, though, and placed it on his lap once he was seated. Gwen noticed this, walked over to him, picked the underwear up and sighed, looking at them as she did. “Huh. Didn’t know these were still in there.”

“They’re a bit, uh, colorful to belonging to you, aren’t they?” Speaking with a straight face, Geoff was genuinely asking if that was the case or not. “And why were they back in the corner? Kinda weird if you ask me.”

“I will say this once, then we will drop the subject completely and get back to my story. These are not mine. No matter how many times I would wash these, I would never wear these because they are _not mine_.” Gwen tossed them casually on top of that clothing pile she had pointed out before, and turned to Duncan, who was on the floor laughing and wiping his eyes. “Get up. This is the part where you come in, after all.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he replied, sitting back on the couch and trying to collect himself, tears from laughter collecting in the corners of his eyes. “Just can’t help but laugh at the fact that he found that in there. Thought I got rid of all her stuff when I brought you back here from the hospital. We gonna burn those too? I mean, she wasn’t the one living here, she doesn’t get an excuse.”

The words that filled the air caught Geoff by surprise a bit, as he had figured that the undies he had found had belonged to Gwen, but hearing her say they weren’t hers, and then hearing Duncan offer to burn them made him only more confused about who they did indeed belong to. “Wait, so whose panties was I holding?”

“They’re Sierra’s. We aren’t at that part of the story though, so if you could just wait a moment, we’ll be getting there.” The look of disgust on his face made it clear that he hadn’t been expecting that answer, and Gwen could only watch as he jumped up, ran to wash his hands, and came back a bit shaken by the fact that he had been something that had been up close and personal with Sierra’s nether regions. “Now that we’re all settled in, can I finally get to the part about my scar?”

“Please, it’s only why we started this whole thing to begin with.” Bridgette was trying to comfort Geoff as he recovered from knowing what he now knew, and she looked to her friend with pleading eyes. “The faster we learn this, the faster we can get him out of here so he doesn’t have to think about what he just did.”

“This story isn’t fast, so he’s just going to have to deal with the consequences of rummaging around in my bathroom.” The scar was touched again, its pink still vibrant and painful-looking. “So remember how I had mentioned getting letters from this guy?” She pointed to Duncan, who whistled innocently. “Well, it all came to this point where I got to see him the day he got off the prison bus. What also happened on that day will be brought up later, but right now, let’s just focus on what happened at the bus station.”

“Yes, let’s focus on that. Let’s focus on what got me put back in jail for a night.” Duncan sounded sarcastic as he spoke, but he finished with a laugh. “I’d complain, but hey, I got out the next day and got to see your pretty face.”

The sigh Gwen gave was the clue that she was more than tired of the interruptions she kept facing. “Please, just let me get through this story without any more of your sass, got it?”  
“Sure thing. I’ll make sure to keep my lips nice and shut.”

“Thank you.” With that, the entire story of what went down that day at the bus station was explained to the people who didn’t know what had happened, from the part where Courtney had also been getting letters from Duncan—something he interjected and explained wasn’t his idea to begin with—to where she completely lost her mind and attacked Gwen for seemingly no good reason. She was going to backtrack in the entire story and explain the real reason behind Courtney’s turn into murderous territory, but a small cough meant to interrupt her caught her attention. “Okay, what is it, Bridgette?”

The blonde woman looked down at the floor when she spoke. “I’m pretty sure I know where this is going to go. She got thrown in jail for this, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did. What, did you hear that somewhere?” Gwen was half thankful that she wasn’t necessarily going to have to get into the full explanation about her attacker’s motives, but half annoyed that she had been interrupted once again. “Or, let me guess, you just assumed based on what you’ve heard.”

“No, none of that. I got a call from her asking for me to give her some money to bail her out of jail. I mean, I didn’t answer the call and I didn’t think she was being serious, but…yeah. I guess I was her one call or something.” She shrugged. “You don’t have to keep talking about that if you don’t want to. I’m sure it’s painful to remember.”

“Oh, what a darn shame it is that you’re not going to have to tell everyone the entire chain of events that finally sent my crazy ex to the slammer,” Duncan dramatically and sarcastically said, falling to his side on the couch. “Sorry Gwen, love hearing your stories, don’t love hearing about her.”

“No one said I wasn’t going to keep going, you know.” There had been a moment before Gwen spoke in which the two guests to this story had actually thought that, by Duncan saying what he had, they were going to move on, but then she spoke and their hopes deflated just as quickly as they had gone up. “But, I guess, if Bridgette knows that Courtney’s out of our hair for a long while, then I probably should just get to the other point of why I started telling everyone this. And yes, before you ask,” she looked to Geoff, who had just opened his mouth to present a question, “I am going to make this part go by quickly. Still a bit angry that this part happened.”

But first, before she got into that, she had some unfinished business to attend to. “Oh, right, I have to start this differently than I would otherwise, since someone,” once more she looked to Geoff, again about to speak, “had to find something belonging to that liar. While I was off about to get attacked, she was here, about to do something that I warned her—and the other two—not to do. Ever. And for some reason, who knows with Sierra, she decided to change her clothes in my bathroom and leave them on the floor. She was probably too excited about breaking my one request to remember to grab her stuff.”

“And so when I brought Gwen back over here after she got out of the hospital and I got out of jail for the second time, I burned it all.” Duncan had sat back up and seemed to be taking things seriously, until he looked to that pile of clothing with the offending garment on top. “Looks like I get to burn something else, so thanks, bro.”

“No problem, dude!”

Stopping the distraction before it could really start, that was when Gwen finished her story, spending the next fifteen minutes just wrapping up everything as she knew it, and ending at the present time. “So there you go. That’s the story. Any questions?” To be the problem that he had been for much of the afternoon, Duncan raised his hand and was promptly ignored, because Gwen was focusing on the other two. He coughed a couple times, trying to get her to look his way, and it wasn’t until he pretended to choke that she paid him any mind. “Okay, fine, what is it, Duncan?”

“You, heh, forgot my favorite part of the story. Can you tell that part, please?”

She glared at him for a moment before sighing. “Is it the part with the whales?” When he started snickering, she only glared more. “That’s not my part of this story to tell, so if you want to tell our guests about how you rudely insulted someone who lived here for a while by comparing her to a whale—even though you never even saw her—then you go right ahead.”

“Oh, you just ruined the fun,” Duncan replied, snapping his fingers as if he was disappointed, but then he turned to look at Geoff and Bridgette, who both still seemed a bit overwhelmed at everything they had heard. “But seriously, if you hadn’t already packed it all away like the great underappreciated friend you are, I’d suggest showing them some of those clothes.”

“So you can what? Make more jokes? I don’t think so.” Gwen hopped off her countertop seat and went into the little sitting area underneath the loft bed, obviously looking for something. “Besides, there’s a better way to get your point across than making fun of her clothes.”

He heard what she had said and considered it for a split second, before deciding that his way was better and stood up, standing right in front of the still-slightly dazed couple on the chairs. “Since I’m not risking getting my ass kicked to the curb for this, watch as I demonstrate.” Duncan pulled his shirt as tight to his skin as he could get it and motioned for them to see what he was doing. “Example A. The kind of clothes that you’d see Heather wear, like the ones in that pile there.” No one needed to look at the pile, after the things that had been said during the long story time. “And example B.” For this, he let his shirt go, letting it hang like it usually would, then he looked around for something he could use as a prop. There was no such item to be found, something he quickly realized. “Okay, uh, bear with me. Think of a tent.”

“Duncan, you better not be doing this,” Gwen said, her back turned to what was happening. “If I hear the words you’re about to say…”

“I’m talking about tents!” he snapped in response, before laughing. “I got it. Think of a tent. Think of me wearing a tent. Think of that. And that’s what it was like when I, ha, tried on one of those shirts I found my first day in here. I was wearing a tent. And that’s the kind of thing that example A skinny bitch was having to wear.”

Having found whatever she was looking for, Gwen turned around, a stack of what looked like pictures in her hand. “I’m surprised. You got through that without referring to her as a wh—“

“She must have looked like a fucking whale by the time she popped that kid out.” Duncan had interrupted Gwen, using the word she was just about to praise him for not using, and the reaction he got was a glare from her, a shocked look from Bridgette (who began moving her arms in such a way to see how big that must have meant), and a surprised gasp from Geoff, whose mental gears had started turning in realization.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that the story Gwen told was true?” he asked in that same sort of surprise, which turned Gwen’s glare onto him. “What’s that look for? I thought you were just making small talk.”

She didn’t smack herself in the forehead, but it was apparent that Gwen wanted to, although her action of choice was to motion to the scar that was featured so prominently on her neck. “Yeah, I cut myself open with a key to make this story so realistic.”

“No, I believed that part. It’s the rest I didn’t believe.” Geoff blinked a few times as he processed everything that had just happened, before his eyes tracked back to that bag of baby things on the floor. “I really just thought you were trying to make a fun story about why that’s there. Never thought it could be true.”

“Well, guess what? It is. And I’ve got to go and give all that stuff back to the person it belongs to, even though she pulled the ultimate bitch move and left when I told her not to.” Gwen shook her head, setting down the stack of pictures on the counter before moving to start putting that pile of clothing, aside from the underwear on top, which she threw at Duncan, into a bag. “Plus, on top of that, I get to do this with the people who helped her leave!” She was angrily throwing the clothes into the bag, ranting as she did. “Then, oh then, I get to go teach people about art history for what will feel like an eternity, because afterwards, I’m expected to go _back_ and interact with those backstabbers. Again!”

“To be fair, you’re doing that one because you want to see the baby,” Duncan added, flinging that pair of underwear back at Gwen’s head.

“Oh shut up.”

“Hold on, there’s actually a baby?” Geoff’s eyes widened and everyone else kind of stopped what they were doing to just look at him like he was missing an entire point. “Oh, right, story was real, you told that part, got it.”

* * *

An hour later and everything that didn’t belong was fully packed up and by the door, ready to be loaded into the car and taken with Gwen to whatever destination that meeting was going to happen at. “Before I go,” she said, smiling at Bridgette, “I want to ask you something.”

“Go for it, I’m all ears.”

“What are you two?” Gwen’s smile got bigger, as Bridgette’s face fell a bit. “I know, loaded question, but I’m fairly certain that, after what we’ve discussed today, it deserves to be asked. You two have been together for a long time, after all.” By the now-opened door, Duncan grinned and shot a thumbs-up into the house before he grabbed a bag and took it out to the car, leaving the three alone for a bit.

He was back and gone again before Bridgette had an answer. “I guess I don’t know if we’re anything more than just dating, really,” she said, her face showing that she had been deep in thought. “I mean, if we were something more, it wouldn’t be rushing anything at all! But we’ve never talked about it and I just don’t know.”

“Huh, interesting. Looks like you’ve got a lot more sense in you than certain other people I’m ashamed to be friends with.” Laughing, Gwen picked that stack of pictures back up and handed them to Bridgette. “Here, these are actually for you. Been saving them for the day I saw you again, to remind you of the friendship we used to have. Don’t be a stranger, okay? You know where I am, let’s keep some sort of friendship between us.”

“Oh, yeah, you got it!” She took the pictures and looked at the top one, which was a drawing of herself that Gwen must have done at some point. “Wait, all of these are for me?”

“You and Geoff, yeah.” At the sound of his name, Geoff, who seemed to have been lost in thoughts of some sort, came back into reality and waved. “You treasure those forever. Worked hard on them.”

Bridgette nodded. “Definitely. I’ll put them with all my precious things when I get back home. Maybe I’ll frame some of these.”

“Framing? My art? I’m glad you think it would deserve such an honor.” Gwen smiled at them both, picked up what was the last bag on the floor, and headed outside. “I’ll see you guys around, yeah?”

They agreed and she was soon gone, Duncan coming back inside not long after with a lighter in one hand and a bag of ashes in the other. “Sorry, had to take care of that burning business before I forgot,” he explained, taking his seat once more on the couch. The couple returned to their chairs, Bridgette enamored with the pictures she had been given and Geoff idly looking around, noticing the small things like the way the room felt emptier without all those bags of clothes. “Wow, you two are being very talkative today. Must be something on your minds.”

“I’m just looking at what Gwen gave me,” Bridgette explained, her eyes focusing on all the details of all these portraits that she had been given. A lot of them were memories from their time on Total Drama, but some pictures were of red carpet events, and other still were just pictures of old friends and enemies. Each one was beautiful, and she made the mental note to have to thank Gwen better for this gift the next time she saw her.

“That’s your excuse, got it. Geoff, man, got anything you want to say?” There was a part of Duncan’s voice as he asked that which made it sound like he had rehearsed what he had just asked, and the way he got an affirmative noise in return just seemed all too staged. But rather than look to see what was happening, Bridgette was too focused on the bottom picture of the stack, the one that had been most definitely been saved for last.

It was of her, standing with her hands on her face, as she looked down at Geoff, who was doing that very stereotypical “down on one knee, hands holding a box” thing that, up to this point, she had only imagined in her dreams. She thought to herself about how funny it was that Gwen had sort of asked about that situation before she handed over these pictures, and she was going to make a comment out loud when she heard shuffling beside her. She looked up from the picture and there, before her, was exactly what had been depicted in the art.

Naturally, she jumped to her feet and did the very pose she had been drawn in. “Bridge,” Geoff said, his voice slightly shaking, “you’ve been my ride or die babe for what feels like forever, and I think it’s about time we make this official. In this thing called life, this crazy journey, this excellent, amazing, and definitely fantastic adventure, everyone gets one soulmate, and, Bridge, you’re mine.” He opened that little box he was holding, and when the light shined off the ring inside of it, Bridgette burst into tears and started nodding her head rapidly, her emotions rendering her unable to speak.

“I’d say that’s about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Duncan said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye with the hand that wasn’t holding a camera. “Bet Gwen will wish she was here to see this rather than doing the dumb thing she had to do.”

“Dude, can you shush for a moment?” His voice was still shaking as he spoke, and Geoff had looked away from his crying now-fiancée to reprimand his friend. “You’re killing the mood.”

A mood that had only ever found its way into existence because two young teens met and fell in love on reality television, and had found the ability to stick together on the crazy path life had decided to take them on. When Geoff had called it an adventure, he certainly had meant it, and now there was nothing stopping them from going on that adventure at each other’s side forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, this chapter still hits my heart like it did when I wrote it. Yes, there's a lot of reference to [her, him, them], and yes, there's a lot of shipping nonsense in this, but it's just so...touching. And a bit humorous.
> 
> Anyway, as this is the end, I've got to say some thanks. Thank you to kamikaze2007 for editing this for me on a weekly basis - you're super helpful and definitely the most supportive boyfriend I could ever ask for. Thank you to elephant_bubbles for being such a huge fan of the story, being one of the two people to get the chapters as they were written, and for being there when I just needed to talk about this fic. Could not have done this without either of you around. :D And thank you to everyone who pushed me to participate in NaNoWriMo 2k14, because without you, I would never have written this!
> 
> I hope everyone who read this had some enjoyment in their journey! :3


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